Queen of the Border (1948)

[Music] [Applause] all [Music] down they threw their bows and arrows through their swords like veteran Heroes charged the foe with Native Valor routed them and took their color so runs the old Border ballad telling of the offensive defense of hoik after the battle of flod ho lies deep in the Scottish border country where for hundreds of years constant Warfare between the Scots and English broke into the Peace of its Hills and [Music] Valleys today the Borderland is peaceful farming country but once a year the hills again reecho to the sound of horses hooves as the young men of hoik ride round their boundaries in memory of those fights against the old Invaders [Music] after the battle of floden English Marauders Advanced upon the almost defenseless town then the young men of hoik rode out routed the English and captured their standard once a year the captured flag is carried in Triumph around the ancient boundaries when it becomes the occasion for a festival of singing dancing and [Music] Sport the standard Bearer is given the title of cornet to show how seriously his post is held he must be unmarried nor may he marry during the following two years with the cornets of the previous two years he dips the colors in the river tant marking a boundary of the old common land many of the ceremonies date back to the days before Christianity the traditional song TI Odin comes from an old prayer to the Heathen Gods Thor and Odin it's from this song that the people of ho have been given the name of ties [Music] for three days every year hoik takes a holiday for the rest of the year they knit not just ordinary knitting but knitting that has made ho famous for in this little Border Town generations of teers have been turning out Hoy of high quality for close on 200 years the original industry was founded on the border wool tray today the h men of ho use mainly Kashmir Yarns from manua Angora from France and soft Lambs wool from the Western ises of [Music] Scotland to be a tii you must have been born in Ho of parents born in the town if your grandfather was born in Ho 2 that clinches it you're a Ty the classic Simplicity of hoic sweaters calls for great skill in their design the springy waistbands Are knitted separately while the fronts and backs of the sweaters Are knitted on these machines every piece is fully fashioned so that the finished article will still have the quality of Home knitting Modern Machinery has replaced the needle work of the housewife but the principle is still there in over through and off the same basic stitches but produced on needles as fine as headpins at 100,000 stitches a minute it's the more complicated designs of table stitch and intricate La that show up the skill of the teary Craftsman Sports sweaters with special designs like those worn by the Canadian Olympic ice hockey team are a job for the hand operated machine generations of skill go into the nimble fingers and dancing footwork of the [Music] operator although Machinery has helped to speed the process every garment is assembled and finished by [Applause] hand it's nearly 200 years since Bailey John Hardy introduced the first stocking frames to ho and started the industry in spite of the development of Machinery it's managed to keep the craftsmanship of the old cottage industry from which it grew the secret of its quality lies chiefly in the finishing and anyone who knits her own sweaters might gather some useful information from the way it's done by the experts [Music] in a foam bath with pure soap and soft hot water wooden clubs pound out the oil from the Yarns giving them the soft piness that the tees call a perfect [Music] handle while still hot and wet the sweaters are carefully stretched over wooden model it's by quick drying on these models that they attain their final and permanent shape they'll only lose this shape if they're once again soaked in very hot water that's why they'll tell you never to wash woolens in water much more than lukewarm and with pure soap flakes [Music] [Music] there's an atmosphere of homeliness about the whole process perhaps because they're doing very much the same things that anyone does who knits a sweater or a pair of socks that's why the finished article has that hand knitted quality every hoik sweater is perfectly designed longwearing and as warm as Tweed yet it still has a soft and Downy [Music] lightness their quality is the quality of a people whose Traditions survive in their daily work no less than in their border songs and dances [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to the L [Music] [Applause] [Music] as the Cornet ties the town's colors on the memorial statue saluting his heroic Forerunner his followers take up the refrain of the Moss Troopers song what though our Lads are wild the we and Hill to keep an order amongst other T she Bears the greed ex Queen no the Border [Music] [Music] [Applause] h [Music]