Ulster-Scots Community Network

Tonight the Ulster-Scots Community Network launched a series of new booklets on Ulster and Tennessee, the Plantation in Donegal, W F Marshall and Patrick as well as a teaching manual on Scottish country dancing.  The manual will be accompanied by a music CD and will help teachers to introduce some simple dances into schools.

Among those taking part were the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr Pat Convery, Damian Smyth (Arts Council), Niall Gibbons (Tourism Ireland), Ray Mullan (Arts Council), Alister McReynolds and Caroline Marshall, a granddaughter of W F Marshall.  Caroline was accompanied by her mother, who is a daughter-in-law of W F.

They are all high quality publications, both in terms of content and production, and will be much appreciated by those who want to learn more about Ulster-Scots culture.  They are a credit to the authors and the staff of the USCN.

In my comments at the end of the evening I picked up on the observation by Damian Smyth, who said that W F Marshall was 'on the margins', and I urged that we bring him back into the mainstream of Ulster culture.

On returning home I was pleased to see the excellent BBC coverage of the European Pipe Band Championships, which were held at Stormont a few weeks ago.

Ulster-Scots research in 1959

I came across the following article in the Belfast Telegraph (21 May 1959).  It is about academic research on the speech of the Ulster-Scots and J Y Mather was one of the editors of The Linguistic Atlas of Scotland.  This was published in three volumes in 1975, 1977 and 1985 respectivley but is now back in print.  The three volumes were republished by Routledge on 27 April 2010 and they offer a thorough and comprehensive dialectological study of Lowland Scotland, Orkney and Shetland, Northern Ireland, Northumberland etc.

Braid and Ards talk the 'purest Scottish'

Expert's dialect comparisons

Speech is one of the most evident of Ulster's many links with Scotland.  But which Ulster dialect has the closest connection with Scottish speech?  In the opinion of Mr J Y Mather it is in the Braid area, near Ballymena, with the Ards peninsula a close second. 

Mr Mather, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, is in County Antrim on a survey of the phonetical construction of dialect words.

He will take his findings back to Edinburgh and record them for further research.

'We deal mainly with the Scottish dialects but we are also interested in the Ulster dialects,' he said at Ballymena.

Armed with a tape recorder, he is travelling round the Glens of Antrim asking people to read a prepared list of words to find out how the phonetical construction differs from district to district.

'It is amazing how the pronunication of a word differs from area to area,' he said.

Mr Mather was over in Ulster two years in the Co Down area and helped to start the Ulster Dialect Dictionary.

In 1952 the University of Edinburgh prepared a questionnaire which they sent to Belfast Field Naturalists' Club.

It gave lists of common objects and the club had to find the dialect name for them.  From the lists returned Ulster was split upinto dialect zones, and this helped in the completion of the dictionary.

Mr Mather is recording all his findings for research purposes.

'We will have all the information in Edinburgh for anyone who wants to go into it in further detail,' he says.

'The next stage after this phonetical survey will be into 'intonation' - the ups and downs the voice makes.

Mr Mather's survey will finish in about three weeks time.

Broadisland Gathering

The 18th annual Broadisland Gatherign in Ballycarry takes place from Thursday 2 September to Saturday 4 September with the main day being the Saturday.  This is always a good event and well worth a visit.  'The Best of Ulster-Scots' runs on Saturday from 12 noon to 5 pm in the heart of the village.

Greater Ardoyne

As the days go by Greater Ardoyne seems to be expanding.  We are often told that it is residents who protest against Loyal Oder parades and band parades but it seems that isn't quite true.

If those involved in protests and riots on the Crumlin Road back in July were residents of Ardoyne or even Greater Ardoyne, then Greater Ardoyne has certainly expanded.  It extended across parts of North and West Belfast, then up to Ballymena and on to Londonderry.  Now with the addition of Spain, Greater Ardoyne is going international!  Who knows where it will extend to next?  Perhaps it will end up like the British Empire, of which it was said that it was an empire 'on which the sun never set'.

Irish Football Association

There have been further developments today at the Irish Football Association, with newspaper and radio reports of four resignations from the executive committee.

I have on numerous occasions expressed my concerns about the governance arrangements at the IFA.  I have also emphasised that the IFA needs to move, and move swiftly, to regain the confidence of all concerned. 

Today's developments reinforce the urgent need to have a full and rigorous review of the IFA's structures and governance arrangements.

It is important to remember that an Independent Report was produced into the dismissal of the previous IFA chief executive and in the wake of that I had asked the IFA board to take control of the situation and press forward with restructuring and a number of other measures.  It is difficult to justify putting public money into the IFA when at the same time money is being lost through poor governance.  I

t is reported that because of the way in which the dismissal of the previous chief executive was carried out, the IFA was out of pocket by around £500,000.  That is money which could have been invested back into football.

The IFA is the body responsible for the development of football in Northern Ireland and football deserves to have a body that is fit for purpose.  That is in the best interests of the the sport, the IFA, the international team, the supporters and all the clubs, at every level in the game.

As things stand at present, with resignations, post-dated resignations, qualified resignations etc, the whole situation reminds me more and more of a 'Brian Rix farce'.

Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's

My second appointment today was the launch for the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's. 

This was held at Queen's Film Theatre and Arlene Foster MLA, the Tourism Minister, and Belfast Lord Mayor Pat Convery, were also there.

The festival runs in October and you can access the programme at http://www.belfastfestival.com/ .

The Arts Council is supporting the festival this year with a grant of £250,000 and DCAL also provided £75,000 as the last year of a three year package of support to take the festival towards sustainability.  The Northern Ireland tourist Board also supported the marketing of the festival and there is also a good partnership between the festival and the Ulster Bank.  In these days of financial restraint, private sector sponsorship is especially important.

Last year I raised on this blog the issue of the poltiical balance of the talks at the festival and I am glad to see that this year they have added a panel of speakers on the legacy of Sir Edward Carson - Professor Graham Walker, Professor Paul Bew and Dr Eamonn Phoenix.

Shankill tourism office

There was an official opening today for the new Shankill Tourism Information Office in the Spectrum Centre.  The opening was chaired by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor William Humphrey, who is chairman of the Greater Shankill Tourism Committee and the opening was performed by DETI minister Arlene Foster, who has responsibility for tourism.

The tourism centre has plenty of information and a great range of Shankill products, many of them using the 'Shankill - Original Belfast' branding.  I understand that they are doing a good trade in the new products and they were especially popular with the Scottish visitors who were over in Ulster for the Apprentice Boys celebrations last weekend.  It is a good brand and there are some excellent high-quality products.

The branding has a double significance:

1. This is original Belfast, dating back to the 5th century and the earliest Christian church in the area.
2. It is also original Belfast in the sense of an authentic and unadorned Belfast.

The Spectrum is looking really well and much credit must go to the chair of the Greater Shankill Partnership board, Tom Scott, the manage of the centre, Julie Andrews, and all the board members and staff.