The treasurer of The Doric Board has been recognised for his tireless work to promote the language and culture of the North East of Scotland in the New Year Honours List.
Gordon M Hay, one of the founding members of the Board, has been awarded the MBE for services to promote the Doric Language.
As well as his position with the Doric Board, Gordon is an Honorary President of the Buchan Heritage Society, President of the Buchan Field Club, and Musical Director and Honorary Vice President of the Peterhead Burns Club. He was also chair of the Charles Murray Memorial Fund prior to it becoming part of the Elphinstone Institute.
Gordon has been a singer with Ugie Voices (formerly Peterhead Choral Society) for 45 years and uses his skills as an accomplished pianist to accompany it and other local choirs. As an equally competent Church organist for over 50 years, Gordon played for over 75 funerals throughout the region in 2024 and still manages to find time to play piano and accordion with the fundraising, event focused Longside Ceilidh Band. A keen gardener, Gordon regularly opens his four-acre garden to visiting groups.
During the past 20+ years, Gordon has published no fewer than five Doric books, including translations of the New Testament (2012) and the Old Testament (2023), and a 640-page history of Longside parish (2000). His 2022 book: “Doric Nursery Rhymes for Loons & Quines” won the Scots Language Awards’ Bairns’ Book of the Year, and his most recent publication is a collection of short stories, mainly in Doric, entitled: “Green Corn i the Breer.”
As an in-demand translator, Gordon has worked on a plethora of landmark projects including translating the likes of Handel’s “Messiah,” Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” and work by Charles Dickens into Doric. Gordon also translated “A Song of Thanksgiving and Dedication” which was performed in Doric during a service at which His Majesty the King was presented with the Honours of Scotland at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.
Commenting on his MBE, Gordon said: “Such an award comes as a great honour and to some extent must be shared with so many who have supported me in my projects over the years.
Doric Board chair Frieda Morrison added: “As one of the founding members of the Doric Board, we are incredibly proud of all that Gordon continues to achieve and we are honoured that the Board benefits from his experience and insight.”
To find out more, visit the website at www.doricboard.com or email info@doricboard.com
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