There are links to sites and also to the speakers notes/slides if relevant below each speaker.
Lesley Riddoch, journalist and broadcaster;
Lesley spoke about her 'growing realisation there is an alternative way of looking at hills & mountains to "conquering" and standing on top of them (for a few minutes). It's being ON the land and amongst hills with people as an active part of the scenery. Not airbrushed out. Maybe a woman's view of being in nature rather than the classic (shall we say) male view of standing on top of it. From a young age, travelling every year for summer holidays with my mother's family in Caithness, I was made aware that women's experience on the land had been ignored. Later, when I had a hut in an Aberdeenshire glen, I realised how hard it was for folk to have this more relaxed, constant relationship with a bit of land/country. That prompted a PhD researching the differences in hut and cabin tradition between Scotland and hut-mad Norway. Its been revealing and depressing to realise how much we miss by not having a regular weekly escape to nature. But maybe things are changing? Im so delighted to be part of this pioneering event organised by the wild women of Highland Perthshire
Linda Cracknell;
An Aberfeldy local Linda Cracknell is a writer of fiction and non-fiction with a particular interest in landscape and sense of place. Her most recent book 'Doubling Back: Ten paths trodden in memory' was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.
Linda's talk focused on perceptions of literature on nature, land and adventures in 'the wild' in relation to the contributions of women writers.
Anna Hepburn;
Anna read some wonderful 'sorbets' in Scots including some from Gerda Stevenstons poetry collection 'Quines'.
Anna has worked with most Scottish theatre companies in Scotland over the years, along with touring companies. Her most recent role was Nancy Sleekit in ‘Nancy Sleekit and Howard’s Revenge’, for Splinters productions. She has also worked in television and film including Taggart, Still Game, Monarch of The Glen etc. She has particularly enjoyed working in Children’s Television, favourite role being Mrs Baxter in ‘Katie Morag’
Anna also writes and directs . Her one Woman play, ‘Consider the Lilies’,set in the Highland Clearances, won a fringe First at the Edinburgh festival. She has also written and directed several award winning plays for the local group in her home town of Aberfeldy.
annahepb@aol.com. Mobile. 07713604084
Agent. CMA Glasgow
Mairi Stewart on Lumber Jills;
Mairi Stewart was born and brought up in Aberfeldy before attending Glasgow University. After spending ten years working in conservation and land management, her interest in woodland history led her to undertake a research degree at the University of St Andrews. She subsequently worked as a project officer at the Centre for Environmental History at the University of Stirling and as a research fellow at UHI Centre for History. She is currently a freelance historical researcher specialising in environmental history. She is author of Voices of the Forest: a social history of Scottish forestry in the 20th century and co-author of The Firth of Forth: an Environmental History.
Mairi's talk began 'War changes everything is a truism. It is what people say about the aftermath of war, but what did that mean for the women who took the place of men during the last world war? What was it like for women doing the job that a man would normally do in peacetime? And, how did it affect them after the men returned and took back their jobs. I will explore this theme in relation to the Women's Timber Corps, the branch of the Women's Land Army, which was set up, in 1942, to provide a replacement workforce to support the timber and forestry industry, so essential for the war effort. I will draw on oral history interviews made as part of a Forestry Commission- backed, UHI Centre for History research project, which gathered the memories of folk involved in forestry in the 20th century, and which culminated in the publication of Voices of the Forest; a social history of forestry in the 20th century.'
Claire Hewitt,Storyteller and Aberfeldy local;
I am a Storyteller, weaving tales that can take you to deep magical forests where deer shapeshift, ravens
speak in human tongue and faerie cattle women dwell in the wild ravines. A tale can hold you spellbound and take you on a journey to the beginning of time when it was said 9 Giant women created the Earth.
From the time of the long ago women, humans have gathered round the fire and a story would be shared eye to eye, mind to mind, and heart to heart. They carry a communities ancestral wisdom, they know no borders, and keep us connected to one another and the earth that sustains us.
Women have been fundamental in continuing this role of gatherer, storykeeper, storing knowledge to share in a tale, a song, and a spinning of yarns. So on this day in celebration of Women and the Land I bring a tale for all to take home and plant in their heart for sustenance for our journey ahead.
Claire also sang Karine Polwarts 'Come Away in' as well as some beautiful old folk songs with Kate Langhorne, Claire in English, Kate in Gaelic (Perthshire dialect of course!)
Kate Langhorne; Singer & self confessed 'Gaelic dialect geek'!
Kate Langhorne is a Gaelic Speaker from Glasgow. She is a keen singer, writer and storyteller. Her interests include Gaelic in the Landscape, the Gaelic culture of Perthshire and Argyll, and normalising the Gaelic language in a truly vital way for young people. Her writing is concerned with portraying the vitality and relevance of ancient narratives for contemporary audiences. She is currently undertaking the MSc Ancestral Studies at the University of Glasgow, through which she explores the split between traditional and modern thinking, and strives for wider acceptance and comprehension of traditional language and story in contemporary articulation of place and human experience.
Kate contributed one of her own songs for my song slot. 'It celebrates the shape-shifting women, and the ingenious Giant's Daughter in the story Cath nan Eun/ Battle of the Birds. It is because of the women in this ancient tale that the hero gets ahead! The working title: Fhuair cuideigin iad, someone got them!
Alice McCrae; Pilates instructor, hill runner and lover of literature.
Alice's talk was on Nan Shepherds 'The Living Mountain', and on how 'womens view of the landscape may differ from mens, on how pioneering Nan was in her teaching and her writing and what we could learn from it to inform our own lives.'
Presentation on Nan Shepherd's 'The Living Mountain'
Jacqui Calder, our local herbalist;
Jacqui's talk was about 'how my work as a medical herbalist connects me to the land through wildcrafting and cultivating medicinal plants. Herbalism taps into what the land gives us to keep us well. Women-folk have always been the main keepers of this knowledge. Its a humble, folky thing and therefore in recent decades has been overshadowed by scientific and technological advances in medicine. Its an earthy business. My harvesting day has me in a field or a hedge or up a tree gathering and then back to the dispensary to chop, mash and steep the plant material to stock my dispensary. The ability to gather and prepare medicine for ourselves and our kinfolk is an empowering action. This older medicine has the potential to keep us well and to work alongside modern medicine to augment fuller healing in times of illness. Women have lost much of their herb lore but are still instinctively drawn to herbal medicine, sensing perhaps that it is a natural fit. I am always delighted when I see women picking up (again) their skills in herb craft. I’m part of this event as the nudge, the gentle reminder, the signpost to re-find your way to the field, the hedge, the tree with your basket on your hip and potions in mind.'
Jacqueline Calder MNIMH, Garden Cottage, Pitnacree, Highland Perthshire, PH9 0LW.
Kate Ralston; Local seed potato manager, former shepherd. Kate talker about her own situation and also interviewed local farmer Katrina Kennedy;
Kate is General Manager for Procurement for the 2nd largest seed potato producer in the UK, managing over 1000 hectares. I come from a sheep farming family and my mum's family are crofters, so I have always been interested in farming and the land. When I left school I worked as a shepherdess instead of going to university, much to my parents frustration, but having asthma, working with hay and straw was difficult, particularly in winter. I was looking for a change and saw a job in potatoes, which I knew nothing about but it sounded interesting, so I applied. It was years later that my colleagues told me that I was the only woman out of 40 candidates. The seed potato industry is seriously lacking women in decision-making positions and I'm not really sure why. It's all about the future production of a staple food - feeding our families and feeding the world. To be involved in introducing & producing new varieties is fascinating, and introducing potato varieties to consumers requires a range of disciplines including science, agriculture, product & account management, marketing, HR, finance, market analysis, anticipating future demands and perseverance to name a few things, but mostly it's about people and building & maintaining relationships, which women are inherently good at. Perhaps it's not seen as very glamorous / family friendly or perhaps there's an issue with recruitment? I've rarely found farmers to be sexist and I think this is due to their reliance on the women in their lives: for emotional support; physical support, working on the farm or financial support, where they supplement the farm income.
Katrina Kennedy; Local young livestock farmer; Katrina spoke about her passion for farming and what it was like to be a young female in farming today. She described the bonds she has with her sheepdogs which she has trained herself, what it's like to use them to find sheep scattered all over hill sides and her ability to recognise lambs as grown sheep years after she has seen them being born.
Alison Hall; Land Reform campaigner, campaigner for women's rights within inheritance to be equal.