NEWSLETTER of the ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY No 79 September 2016
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SIB FOLK NEWS NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY No 79 September 2016 GRAPHICS JOHN SINCLAIR 2 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No 79 September 2016 ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY NEWSLETTER No 79 SEPTEMBER 2016 COVER SIB HIGHLIGHTS PAGE 2 From the Chair PAGES 3,4,5 more reminiscences from Jackie Brown Pages 6 & 7 Peter's very important ancestor From PAGES 8,9,10 Norman Windwick the Chair recalls his childhood at the Toc H Welcome to the September issue of the Sib Folk News at the end of a PAGE 11 summer of lovely weather and a very busy time in the office. In Orkney as a Tumbledown 'Gyrehouse' Stenness whole, we must have had record numbers of tourists this year with over 100 cruise ships including Orkney in their itinerary plus all the holidaymakers who PAGES 12 & 13 visited our islands. The Kirkwall Shops. A stroll down The Family History Society had a table in the exhibition hall at the Vintage memory lane Rally in August and it was good to see and have a chat with our members and welcome some new ones as well. Remember, we look forward to seeing PAGES 14 & 15 you in the office if you get stuck with your research or if you just want to say Captain James 'hello'. Renton Waters The website is being updated with more interesting and helpful resources PAGES 16 & 17 Mandy Thomson bitten so don't forget to check out www.orkneyfhs.co.uk and you will be amazed by the Orkney at the amount of information freely available to our members. If you have a genealogy bug query, post on the message board as this frequently produces results.Family photos can be uploaded to the site as well and these are always of interest PAGES 18 & 19 to your fellow members. Schooldays at Stymilders As we draw towards the end of Autumn we look forward to our annual din- ner and winter program. This got off to a good start at our September meet- PAGE 20 ing in the St Magnus Centre where our guest speaker, Tom Muir, enlightened Precious memories of us about 'Old Orkney Customs: Births, Marriages and Deaths'. Private Andrew Nicholson Finally, our Editor, John Sinclair has asked me to mention that he has PAGE 21 changed his internet provider and now has a new email address. Will you be Sanday one of the first to email him with an article for our Sib Folk News at Sinners Saved [email protected] and help him fill the December issue? PAGE 22 When communty service was not an option Anne Rendall PAGE 23 Can you help Derek Wilson Allan with his Orkney Allans? PAGE 24 Membership etc Issue No.79 September 2016 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 3 Part 4 of the Jackie Brown Story In my boyhood the small town of Stromness with its On one occasion in Peter Esson’s tailor shop it was 2000 or so people was a close knit society. A daily bus suggested that Soldier John should be asked to deliver a went from Stromness to Kirkwall, 15 miles away. There talk on India in the Temperance Hall - a silver collection were only three cars which could be hired for a special to be charged. This was thought would attract a large journey. This resulted in a static population where every- audience. The hall was filled to capacity: this should be one knew each other and thus it had been for generations. a memorable occasion. In his rich and loud voice Soldier It was not, however, an inward looking society. There had John commenced “ In India some worship the sun,some been the heady days of the herring fishing when the har- worship the moon and some worship the Brahmaputra bour was crammed with sail boats for a couple of months hen. Many’s a time I’ve seen a woman throw her child and the town echoed with the laughter of the fisher girls. into the jaws of the alligator.” Loud cheers came from the Stromness was the headquarters of the Hudson Bay audience and that was just Company in Orkney,and here men were recruited from the beginning. Other char- all over the islands for a five year stint in the “Nor Wast”. acters roamed the street and There were also the weekly sailings of the “North Boats” piers of Stromness. Geordie to Aberdeen and Leith and the daily sailing of the mail Chalmers thought he was a boat to Scrabster in Caithness. ship. Dressed in a reefer jack- The town’s motto Per et with brass buttons and a Mare was an appropriate cheesecutter cap he walked one. For us youngsters the along muttering ‘starboard’ harbour was our pleasure or ‘port’ or, ‘a splash astern’. area - a paradise in the When asked why he had summer months, sailing walked the ten miles to and rowing, catching fish in Dounby on a windy day, his the strong currents of Hoy answer was ‘to get a back Sound, learning to swim. It wind home.’ was a grand place in which Then there was James to grow up. Miller who would walk slow- It was also a place which ly down the pier clutching at produced a plethora of the chain of his pocketwatch characters. One of those and muttering “crunch a hal- was “Soldier John” - John ibut”. So naturally he was Johnston, the town crier nicknamed ‘Cruncha Hali- Geordie Chalmers and verger in the Episco- but’. Both were quite innocuous and just part of the scene. palian Church of Scotland, Another well known character was Kitty Bell, known a small chapel up the Kirk more frequently as Titty Bell. She was also quite harm- Road. He had been the town less as she went swinging along the street with a large crier before “The Puffer” washing basket tucked into her haunch. She spoke to no “Soldier John’ and had been a foot soldier one but would sing a ditty and perform a pirouette as she with General Gordon in In- gaily went on her way. dia, about which he loved to expound. He was frequent- My recollections of the Great War were quite vague. ly heard to expound in “Billjek’s” saddlery shop and his My older brother, Hughie, two years my senior, would stories about India were treated with suspicion - and talk about German spies. This must have been discussed sometimes derision. He had a deep sonorous voice, ad- by his peers at school and to a young four year old it was mirable for a town crier; also admirable for his stories. quite frightening. When the war finished he dragged me On one occasion when he concluded with “I have stood along to see the Kaiser who was lying in state in Wis- where thousands fell,” a wit, Sam Stockan, quickly said, hart’s garage. The effigy that confronted us was so real to “Thousands of lice, Jack.” me that I turned tail and ran as fast as my legs A 4 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.79 September 2016 F would carry me to the safety of home. I refused to go to five shillings to my mother and kept the remainder for see him burned. pocket money. In terms of the other school children I was Immediately to well off by comparison. The job was a sinecure and one the north of our that I dearly loved. In summer, the milk round was twice house stood the Ma- daily; in winter once daily. There was no electricity and sons Arms Hotel. It no refrigerators but in winter none were required as the had its own pier on milk would keep quite well. The tenant farmer of Cas- which their garage tle Farm,Tommy Firth,would set off with his horse and was situated with its chariot down Oglaby and I would meet him at the top of two gleaming cars. I Helliehole Road before proceeding along the Back Road would spend a lot of and turning into the town. The vehicle was indeed a char- my time there before iot, not unlike the Roman chariots of BenHur, quite low I attended school. at the back and sloping upwards. A big churn with a tap The chauffeur, Char- held the milk securely and the milk was poured into zinc lie Lennie, seemed cans with lids which were then poured into the waiting to enjoy my company receptacles at the house doors. Nancy the pony knew ex- and would tease me to actly where to stop along the way and where to set off at get my reactions. Ap- a trot, when Tommy and I would leap on the back making parently I was quite good time,for I had to be in school at 9am. During sum- a talkative child and mer holidays I would spend quite a lot of time at Castle when Charlie teased Farm, especially when the turnips had to be singled or the me by saying I would haystack built. At those times the neighbouring farmers be a minister when I would be there to help and there was friendly banter and Masons Arms Hotel grew up, my reply was always special meals washed down with home-brewed that I would never be ale. It was the beginning of my love of the countryside. a minister because I would curse and swear. Charlie at In the farming economy the sale of milk was a welcome that time was courting Bessie Flett who used to help at addition, so much so that there were at least a dozen our home as a young girl whenever required.