Es fyle past, I hiv bin caain aboot in aa things Banffshire, ain of ma favourite pastimes. There is nithin I like mair thin gitting yokit kirnin amo Banffshire fowk or placies, or stravaigin roon auld kirkyards lik St John’s it Gamrie, St Mary’s in Banff, Rathven, or Boharm. A freen o mine says ‘e’ll hae ‘He loved Banffshire’ on yer ain heidstane’.
The raison fir aa es plyterin aboot in Banffshire histry wis thit I wis geein ain o the spiks it the Banffshire Field Club’s annual conference fit wis haudit in Cullen last wikkend. I hiv the mense tae be Vice Chair o the Field Club fit heists up aa the histry an antiquities o the auld coonty o Banff, so it wis rare tae be spikkin it the gaitherin anaa.
Ivry Field Club conference his bin a sell-oot we ower echty fowk gaitherin on the first Seterday in October ilky eer tae hear mair aboot Banffshire. This is richt rare syne Banffshire wis deen awa we in local government terms in 1975, bit yit fowk hiv an affa strang sibness we it tae es day.
Maugre* es, it is rare thit it aye his keepit its ain Lord Lieutenant, an last eer, gotten its ain flaggie tee fit wis designt be Ellie Stewart it Slochie Skweel (Portessie Primary, fir aa yone uninitiatit). The flaggie flees proodly aa ower e coonty, nae least on Castle Hill in Cullen itsel.
The fowkies o Banffshire Field Club an ithers dee an affa lot tae keep the auld coonty alive an in the consciousness o fowk baith it hame an owerseas. A pucklie eers ago, the Field Club got a grant o siller tae digitize its ‘Transactions’ fit wis the publisht papers atween 1880-1939. Ower sivven-thoosan pages wis pittin online we a search engine tae help fowk fin the stuff they’re efter.
The Transactions hiv information o ilky kyne, fae femily histry tae flora an fauna, fae kirkyards tae geography, an athing in atween. They are a richt kist o riches fir the coonty, an affen it’s details ye canna git onywhaur else.
The bleed o Banffshire rins is in the veins o Lord Byron, an his dother Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, Willie Whitelaw (myne on him?), AA Milne, Justin Trudeau, an nae tae forgit Queen Camilla fa’s Shand fowk are aboot as Banffshire as they cam, an fa his so mony Provosts o Banff in her femily thit I’ve lost coont.
So, ye see, Banffshire bides in the hairts and mynes o fowk. There’s richt pride in it thit’s nae jist nostalgia. It’s a sense o place, a sense o belongin, a love o wir ain airt. Hamewith. As Sir Alexander Gray pit it: “This is my country,
The land that begat me”. Ma freen micht be richt eneuch, mebbe I will hae ‘He loved Banffshire’ inscribit on ma heidstane. A canna think o muckle better an epitaph.
* a rare Banffshire wird fir ‘in spite of’
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