Previous Festivals

The Traditional Singing Weekend at Cullerlie

26–28 July 2019

A Festival to celebrate the singing traditions of Scotland, England, and Ireland in memory of Tom and Anne Reid

The Guests | Programme

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The Guests

Ellie Beaton is one of Scotland's youngest traditional singers. From the small village of Rothienorman she has been brought up with bothy ballads and traditional ballads alike. At only seventeen years she has already won traditional ballad singing titles and has recently collaborated with the band Malinky. She is currently studying at school, and hopes to focus on music in the near future.
Sheena Blackhall is a poet, traditional singer and storyteller, born in Aberdeen of Aberdeenshire parents. She has performed at Sidmouth, Edinburgh and as a guest of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, through the Elphinstone Institute. She has won many awards for singing and writing. Her mentors in singing were the Travellers John Watt Stewart and Stanley Robertson.	Photo by Frieda Morrison, Scots Radio www.scotsradio.com
Steve Byrne hails from Arbroath and is known for his work with folksong band Malinky, celebrating their twentieth anniversary this year. A graduate of the School of Scottish Studies, he has worked on the Kist o' Riches sound archive project and on the papers of Hamish Henderson. With 'Local Voices' he runs workshops in schools, has recently produced a CD of ballads from Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border for an academic project, and worked as singing coach for Netflix's Robert the Bruce epic, Outlaw King.	Photo by ABCassidy Photography
Roger Hinchliffe was born on a small farm to the west of Sheffield and grew up listening to his father, Frank Hinchliffe, singing 'the old songs' whilst he went about his work. As time passed, Roger became more appreciative of his father's songs and started to pick them up. After Frank died in 1995, Roger was invited to sing at one of Ian Russell's gatherings. He bit the bullet and sang for this first time in public. It will be his third visit to Cullerlie.
Christine Kydd has always sung. At family get-togethers in Glasgow she heard her folk singing the old Scottish favourites at the piano. From playing guitar in a folk band at the age of ten, Christine first heard unaccompanied singing in the early 1980s. Influences include all the great recorded Traveller and ballad singers as well as Barbara Dymock, Aileen Carr, Gordeanna McCulloch, Alison McMorland and Maureen Jelks. Christine has eclectic tastes, releasing in 2019, a CD of old and new songs on Greentrax, Shift and Change.	Photo by Louis De Carlo
Anne Lamb is from County Durham. She has built a reputation in England's North East clubs, where she is known as 'Houranne'. Her love of folk song began at the age of eighteen when she was greatly influenced by the singing of the Watersons. Since then her influences have been the many wonderful singers in her native North East. She now spends time travelling to festivals and singing weekends, where she can indulge her love of traditional song.
Fiona Meade has been crocheting for most of her life and runs beginner and improver's workshops in Aberdeen and Stonehaven. The craft of crochet has seen a huge resurgence in popularity in the last few years and it is lauded for its physical and mental health benefits. Crochet just requires a hook and yarn, making it both an affordable and portable pastime. Start your crochet journey with Fiona at Cullerlie, where you'll learn how to craft your first stitches and make some simple crochet jewellery to take home.
Jerry O'Reilly is a member of An Góilín Traditional Singers' Club in Dublin, which is reckoned to be the foremost singing club in Ireland and which is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year. His first solo CD Down from your Pulpit, Down from Your Thrones, was enthusiastically received, and his second album, Havoc Heaven, has been described by The Irish Times as 'a strapping collection which will fuel repertoires from Stonybatter to Sneem'.
Hector Riddell was born and brought up in Leochel Cushnie in rural Aberdeenshire. After singing in the local church choir and performing 'Country and Irish' in dance bands all over the North East of Scotland, he went back to singing bothy ballads. Encouraged by his family to enter competitions at various festivals, he managed to qualify for the Bothy Ballad 'Champion of Champions' Competition in Elgin in 2009. This year he won the championship for the sixth time
Ian Russell is a researcher and singer, who champions the local traditions of the English Pennines and NE Scotland. Since 1969 he has conducted fieldwork into the singing traditions of South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, inclluding Christmas carolling.More recent research has focused on Aberdeenshire Traveller traditions and Bothy Ballads. An emeritus professor at the University of Aberdeen's Elphinstone Institute, he has written and edited several books on traditional music. He has been a guest at festivals in England, Ireland, the USA and Australia.
Anne Skelton is from County Mayo and has been singing traditional songs since her childhood. Her father John Kelly was a singer and stepdancer and her mother and uncles were also singers. She is a regular guest at traditional music festivals throughout Ireland such as the Willie Clancy Summer School, Féile Chois Cuain and the Frank Harte Festival. She has also collaborated in projects such as 'The Man, Woman and Child' project at the National Library, Dublin, and 'The Birdsong Project' in Galway. She has lived in Galway City for the past 35 years with her musician husband Joe.

Programme

The Traditional Singing Weekend at Cullerlie

27–29 July 2018

A Festival to celebrate the singing traditions of Scotland, England, and Ireland in memory of Tom and Anne Reid

The Guests | Programme

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The Guests

Natalie Chalmers is a traditional singer, born and brought up in Fraserburgh, who regularly performs and competes in concerts and festivals around Scotland.

She studied at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music at Plockton, before attending University in Aberdeen.

Having been steeped in the strong heritage of North-East ballads and bothy ballads, Natalie is now enjoying the equally strong, traditional music scene whilst living in Glasgow and is a director of the Traditional Music and Song Association.

Luke Cheevers was born and reared in the great metropolis of Dublin where he still resides.

From an early age he had an interest in ballads. Influenced by Dublin singers, Frank Harte and Liam Weldon, he has travelled the length and breadth of Ireland listening to great singers. He has been a guest at festivals in Girvan, Whitby, Sidmouth, London, and in Ireland, and looks forward to joining us in Cullerlie.

Lucy Donaghey grew up at the foot of the Sperrins in County Derry. She now lives in Inishowen.

Her love for traditional singing stems from her father and grandfather.She is a member of both the Inishowen and Derry Traditional Singing Circles.

More recently she has co-founded the South Derry singing circle with her father to promote and preserve the tradition around her home place.

She lists among her influences her fellow singers in Derry and Inishowen, and singers such as Bess Cronin, Sarah, Rita and Dolores Keane and Rita Gallagher.

Scott Gardiner from Forfar, now biding in Edinburgh, has never missed a Cullerlie Singing Weekend since being a guest in its first year.

Usually to be seen ferrying performers, moving chairs or duck-taping his way round the marquee, he is also a great exponent of the songs of East and North-East Scotland, and helps run the Kirriemuir Festival in Angus.

Jimmy Hutchison lives in Fife where he works as a joiner and handloom weaver.

He sings mainly traditional Scottish songs and ballads learned directly from source singers such as Jeannie Robertson, Belle Stewart, Jimmy McBeath and Davy Stewart, to name but a few.

He also has a good few Irish songs collected during visits in the 1960s. He is often described as ‘a singer’s singer’ demonstrating a craftsmanship and intensity that make the senses tingle.

Viv Legg of Bodmin in Cornwall is from a Romany background and learned her songs from her mother, Sophie, and other members of the Orchard family.

During the last few years of her life, Sophie greatly encouraged Viv to continue the family song tradition, and as a result during the past fifteen years, Viv has appeared at a number of festivals and clubs, and has launched two CDs, the latest, Jauling the Green Tober, with Thomas McCarthy.

Saro Lynch-Thomason is a ballad singer and folklorist from Asheville, North Carolina. For the last decade she has studied and taught Appalachian ballads, sacred songs, and labour songs.

She has a passion for exploring American Southern and Appalachian social history through the songs written by women and men in coal camps, textile mills, meetings houses, and homesteads. Often combining music, narratives and multimedia into her performances and workshops, Saro loves to bring people’s history to life.

Ellen Mitchell has a lifelong connection with singing from family, school, youth hostels, and through attending clubs and festivals to hear singers such as Lizzie Higgins, Davy Stewart, Jimmy McBeath and Belle, Sheila and Cathy Stewart.

She has won TMSA cups at Keith and Auchtermuchty and has been a guest at clubs and festivals at home and abroad.

It has been time well spent hearing great songs and music and meeting wonderful people who have helped add to her repertoire.

Jess Smith is a Scottish Traveller who has published six books about her culture.

Campfire ceilidhs at berrytime hold her favourite memories where her love o' the auld sangs inspired her to keep them alive.

She is a member of TMSA and in the past has won the women's singing in Kirriemuir, and was second in Keith. She is also a member of the Scottish Storytelling Centre and has travelled the world sharing her passion for the Travelling culture.

Ken Wilson has been singing at clubs and festivals for some forty years as a member of the Wilson Family, but he is also admired as a solo performer, singing unaccompanied traditional and contemporary songs. With his brothers, he has performed at the Royal Albert Hall Proms, and alongside Sting in New York. Ken released a solo album Not Before Time in 2008, and more recently Here's a Health to the Company! with his good friend and fellow singer Jim MacFarland. Last October the family were awarded the EFDSS Gold Badge Award for their work within folk music.

Programme

21–23 July 2017

A Festival to celebrate the singing traditions of Scotland, England, and Ireland in memory of Tom and Anne Reid

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The Guests

Margaret Bennett was brought up in a family of tradition bearers, Gaelic on her mother's side and Lowland Scots on her father's, sharing songs from several generations in both languages. She has spent her life as a folklorist, recording, writing, teaching, and singing worldwide. Author of award-winning books and many articles, she wears her scholarship lightly. The late Hamish Henderson commented perceptively, 'Margaret embodies the spirit of Scotland'.

Sid Calderbank has been collecting, researching, interpreting and performing the songs, stories and poems of his native Lancashire for almost forty years. Whilst it may sometimes be difficult to follow the more obscure dialects, it is always worth the effort as the county's vast store of nineteenth-century writing reveals a unique social history, written by ordinary working men and women, and unrivalled in any other English county.

Sadly Jim Causley is not able to be with us due to health issues.
His place will be taken by Matt Quinn.

Matt Quinn is fast becoming a well-known name on the English folk scene. In the past he has been seen playing at festivals around the country (including Glastonbury and WOMAD). He is currently gigging with the Dovetail Trio (alongside Rosie Hood and Jamie Roberts) on the UK folk club and festival circuit, as well as performing with them live on the BBC Radio 3 programme In Tune. Matt also regularly works with ceilidh bands the Discussion Topic, Geckoes and English String Band. His brand new solo album, The Brighton Line consists entirely of traditional songs which were collected in his home county of Sussex.

Mark Dunlop grew up in rural County Antrim, where songs and music were part of everyday life. After moving to Dundee at 18 to study, he developed his interest in traditional singing, as well as learning the tin whistle, flute and bodhran. Having promoted traditional song around the world through the band Malinky since 1998, Mark feels the only thing more enjoyable than singing is listening to good singers sing good songs.

Iona Fyfe from Huntly is one of Scotland's up and coming young ballad singers. Nurtured by her fellow singers of Aberdeenshire, she has become a 2017 finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year and semi-finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards. She has performed at clubs and festivals in the UK as well as in Italy. A student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Iona has released an EP East in 2016 and plans to release a debut album in 2018.

Rita Gallagher from Donegal, is the recipient of Gradam Ceoil Amhránai na Bliana (Singer of the Year) 2017, from the Irish broadcaster TG4. She lists among her greatest influences such luminaries as Paddy Tunney and his mother Brigid, Frank Harte and many others. She has made three recordings in total, Easter Snow in 1997, which was re-released with The May Morning Dew in 2010, and most recently The Heathery Hills in December 2016.

Bob Knight is a singer and songwriter from Aberdeen, an experienced musician, and performer. He is related through his mother, Margaret Stewart, to all the great Traveller singers of Aberdeenshire and Blair. Not only does he have an extensive repertoire of traditional songs, but is adding to the tradition by writing new songs and stories in the traditional style, especially in Doric, the local variant of Scots.

Annie Reid A 'Torry Quine' by birth, Annie developed an interest in Scottish song when living abroad and, finding ways of keeping her young family connected with hame, she discovered Singing Kettle and the singing of Cilla Fisher. Back in Scotland, she became involved with Stonehaven Folk Festival and with their encouragement sang solo first in 2009. She feels connected to songs from a woman's perspective. She is also one third of Addled Vice, World Paper n Comb Champions 2016.

Pete Shepheard is a fine singer with a song repertoire that includes many songs from his own collecting. He first came into contact with the riches of traditional song when he was a student at St Andrews University and a member and organiser of the folk club. His contacts with the Stewart family of Blairgowrie led to song collecting on the berryfields and exploration of Traveller traditions in Scotland, England and Ireland. He runs Springthyme Records and is an organiser of the FifeSing weekend.

Jim Taylor was born near Garlogie (3 miles from Cullerlie) where he still lives. A nephew of the late Tom (Tam) Reid, Jim is steeped in the local tradition, singing several of Tom's songs, as well as others which he has picked up over the years. Jim is a member of the TMSA, and enjoys a mix of material including bothy, traditional and folk. He has been a guest at several festivals in Scotland as well as at Inishowen in County Donegal and Drax in Yorkshire.

Sticks by Arthur Milne

Programme

22–24 July 2016

A Festival to celebrate the singing traditions of Scotland, England, and Ireland in memory of Tom and Anne Reid

The Guests | Programme

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The Guests

Jane Cassidy, a professional folk singer during the 1980s, toured extensively in Europe and released two albums with Claddagh Records Waves of Time 1982 and The Empty Road 1985, as well as an album with husband Maurice Leyden telling the story of Mary Ann McCracken, 1770-1866.

She presented Downtown Radio's 'Folkal Point' for four years. Jane and Maurice specialise in performing shows combing history and folksong as well as delivering traditional singing games workshops in primary schools.

Janice Clark was born and brought up in Aberdeen and, from an early age, took an interest in the traditional music and song of the North East of Scotland. Her ballad singing style was heavily influenced by some of the great local source singers, most notably Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins and Stanley Robertson.

Janice has been singing at folk clubs and festivals from her early teens and recorded with several bands, including Iolair, Lang Johnnie Moore and Highland Connection.

She is an experienced teacher of singing workshops and has tutored for Scottish Culture and Traditions in Aberdeen.

John Dickson's roots are in the coal mining community of Midlothian where he was born and grew up.

He then moved to the Scottish Borders in 1970 and took part in the local folk scene until he moved to Aberdeenshire in the early nineties. There he discovered a love of bothy and traditional singing and competed in various competitions.

He has made several appearances at the Bothy Ballad Champion of Champions in Elgin and won the title in 2011.

Shona Donaldson is one of Scotland's most lauded young traditional singers, having performed locally, nationally and internationally.

Raised in Huntly, she lives with her husband Paul Anderson and children in Tarland.

Her most recent CD is Short Nichts and Lang Kisses, and she is the current Champion of Champions Borthy Ballad Singer, being the first woman to win this coveted title in Elgin earlier this year.

Johnny Handle and Chris Hendry perform songs and music from Scotland and the North East of England.

Firmly rooted in the tradition, they were involved in the early days of the Folk Revival, finding inspiration from older source singers and musicians. At schools and universities, over many years, they have passed on their enthusiasm and knowledge to successive generations.

Concert and festival appearances have made them firm favourites with audiences both at home and abroad.

Maurice Leyden is a folk singer, collector, and broadcaster living in Belfast.

He has published two collections of traditional songs, Belfast, City of Song in 1989 and Boys and Girls Come Out to Play in 1993, and his latest, a social history of the Ulster Linen Industry through folk song, is nearing completion.

Maurice presented a weekly, live radio programme called 'Folkal Point' for fourteen years on Ulster's Downtown Radio.

He teaches traditional singing for Belfast Trad and regularly delivers 'singing lectures'.

Ewan McVicar was born in Inverness in 1941 into a singing family.

He co-started Scotland's first folk club in Glasgow in 1960 with friends Archie Fisher and Hamish Imlach, has taught Scottish songs in over a hundred schools, and created two very popular song websites for young people.

He is Scotland's expert on children's playground songs.

He has written several books on Scottish song, and many traditional-style songs including 'Shift and Spin' and 'All the Tunes in the World'.

Jim Radford has been making waves and singing, for longer than most of us have been alive - first at sea, from 1944-1954, and then for forty and more years, as an anti-nuclear campaigner and innovative community organiser.

A key figure in housing and homelessness initiatives, like the squatting movement whose activities have landed him in police cells as well as television studios, Jim has always been a singer, especially of sea songs, and came to national prominence when he sang his autobiographical song 'The Shores of Normandy' at the Royal Albert Hall in 2014.

Robyn Stapleton was named BBC Scotland's Young Traditional Musician in 2014 and has quickly become one of the country's most sought after folk singers.

Her performance highlights include singing with the BBC Scottish Symphony orchestra at the BBC Proms in the Park and on Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs'.

Twice a nominee for Scots Singer of the Year (Scots Trad Music Awards), Robyn released her first album last year: 'With a poise and feeling for her material that belie her 25 years', The Scotsman.

Basket Making

Helen Jackson's inspiration for basketmaking comes from times when baskets were a fundamental part of everyone's life, be it for carrying, storing or a unit of measurement, life depended on them.

She is a member of the Basketmakers' Association and the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle.

'There is nothing more satisfying than planting, growing, and harvesting willow then weaving it into a basket that is strong, functional but also beautiful. Smells good too.' 

Whittling

Paul Cookson of Green Aspirations Scotland, which is a woodland-based social enterprise with a mission to inspire outdoor learning.

Why? Because they know the importance of a close connection with nature – and with like-minded people – for our health and wellbeing.

They teach traditional crafts and rural skills, from woodland management to whittling. They aim to encourage and inspire a new generataion to care for the environment.

Programme

24–26 July 2015

A Festival to celebrate the singing traditions of Scotland, England, and Ireland in memory of Tom and Anne Reid

The Guests | Programme | Drumallochie

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The Guests

Stuart Ashton was born and bred in Glossop, Derbyshire, becoming interested in folk song and music as a student in the 1960s.  Though he learned quite a few songs, he didn’t sing in public until 1976 when he moved to Aberdeen and has been singing ever since at folk clubs, ceilidhs and festivals.  Stuart has a wide range of songs but specialises in humorous, music hall, and drinking songs (especially those regarding beer!), plus a few monologues.

Moira Craig was born in Glasgow and began singing from childhood within family gatherings and choirs. Her foray into folk music began in the late 1960s and apart from a few years’ break, continues to the present day. As well as having been one third of the successful group Craig, Morgan, Robson, Moira has continued solo singing, performing at various festivals and folk clubs particularly down south where she has lived since 1983. Moira’s repertoire is mostly traditional Scottish but incorporates some contemporary and humorous material.

Francy Devine is a great favourite at Cullerlie. Born in London, he now lives in Howth near Dublin and is an executive member of the Musicians' Union of Ireland. He is also a member of Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann – the Folklore Council of Ireland – and President of St Lawrence Howth Pipe Band. A leading member in the Howth Singing Circle, he recently released a CD, with Steve Byrne & Friends, My Father Told Me.

Henry Douglas, BEM, a farmer from Bonchester Bridge in the Scottish Borders, is steeped in the customs and traditions of the Common Ridings and has been Official Song Singer, Chief Guest and President of all three Common Riding clubs in Hawick. Born into a farming family at Catslackburn in the Yarrow Valley, he developed a love of the local song traditions, most notably from Willie Scott. Henry is a great favourite at rugby gatherings.

Barbara Dymock’s middle name is Alice. As a child she refused to learn the deliberately misnamed ‘Hard Hearted Barbara Alice’ from her Fife granny. However, she did air some of her grandparents’ songs in the early days of the band Ceolbeg and is delighted to have had recent opportunities to revisit them, despite a 20 year break from performing during which she had three bairns and pursued a medical career. She loves singing traditional songs, either solo, or with the talented and weel-kent singers and musicians she collaborates with from time to time.

Bella Hardy, from Edale in the Derbyshire Peak District, is a singer, musician and song writer who presents folk songs in the best tradition; not as museum pieces, but as relevant and very human creations. Her own songwriting creates twisted tales that touch on both the fantastical and the lovelorn. She was named ‘Folk Singer of the Year’ at the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, having previously won the award ‘Best Original Song’ in 2012 for ‘The Herring Girl’.

Billy Jolly is something of a legend in Orkney. Whether singing about a make-shift rubbish dump (amongst many other captivating topics), or leading the company in an aerobic version of the whaling song ‘The Balaena’, he never fails to add that special something to an evening’s entertainment. A favourite musician (moothie) and storyteller in his home islands, his gift for being on stage can also be seen within the five-piece band Hullion.

Ellen Mackinnon is a young singer with roots in the Scots and Gaelic traditions. Born in Aberdeen, she was brought up in a household rich in song. Her mother is the North-East singer Janice Clark. Ellen learned songs from many singers who were regular visitors to her home like the wonderful Stanley Robertson. Ellen attended Gaelic medium education and learned songs through many Fèisean and Mods. Ellen has a rich, expressive voice which can captivate any audience.

Máire Ní Chróinín from Dublin has family roots in Sliabh Luachra and Belfast. She is a member of the Góilín Singers’ Club in Dublin since 1991.

She has been involved in the Sean-Nós Cois Life Irish language traditional singing festival in Dublin since 1993, through which she has learned Sean Nós songs directly from masters of the tradition.

She has been a guest at festivals in Ireland and Spain.

Russell Taylor is a born and bred Aberdonian but has been resident in Ellon in Aberdeenshire since 1978. Although coming from a musical family, it was only in later life that he started singing in public.

His first love is the local bothy and traditional ballads of North-East Scotland in which he can give full rein to the Doric dialect. He is a regular winner of bothy and traditional ballad competitions and has made four appearances at the annual 'Champion of Champions' Bothy Ballad Competition in Elgin.

Programme

• Download the booking form here: Festival programme.

Send the booking form to:

The Traditional Singing Weekend,
Cullerlie Farm Park,
Echt, Skene,
Aberdeenshire
AB32 6XL

Booking Enquiries - Tel: 01224 645486

Please Note:

Because of the limited number of places available, priority will be given to those who are coming for the whole weekend.

Please book early to avoid disappointment. Bookings close 19 July 2019.

General Information about the Weekend

• Food will be available over the weekend in the tea room
• You can buy an all-weekend meal ticket at a discount
• There will be no bar - BYOB
• Camping and caravanning can be booked. There is a charge of £10.00 per pitch
• There are several B&Bs in the area - for a list, contact Tourist Information at Banchory: 01330 822000 or Aberdeen: 01224 269180
• Bursaries are available for singers under 25 yrs in full-time education

Organisers

Tracey Walker (Anne’s daughter) and Eric Walker, Jim Taylor (Tom’s nephew), and Scott Gardiner on behalf of Cullerlie Farm Park and Ian and Norma Russell on behalf of The Elphinstone Institute

Thank you to our Sponsors

Breedon Aggregates
Coupers (Fish Processors) of Aberdeen
Davidson & Murison Ltd
The Elgin Rotary Club
The Friends of the Elphinstone Institute
And to other much appreciated donors

Ih-Hm | Drumallochie

‘Ih-Hm'

This was one of Tom’s favourite songs. The original words,‘M-Hm’, are attributed to James Nicholson in John Greig’s Scots Minstrelsie (1893), VI, 302-04.

Hiv ye heard o the deil as he wauchled through life
With a wife in ilk oxter an een in his teeth
Till some-een bawled out will ye tak mine the morn
He waggit his tail an he cockit his horn
But he only said ‘im-hm’, that daft-like word ‘im-hm’
That auld-farrant ‘im-hm’, that stands for an ‘aye’.

Now fin I wis a callant lang syne at the skweel
Oh the maister aye caed me a dunce an a feel
For aa that he said I cuid ne’er unnerstan
Except when he cried, ‘Jimmy, will ye haud oot yer han?’
Then I gloomed an said ‘im-hm’, I glowered an said ‘im-hm’
I wis nae that prood bit ower dour tae say, ‘aye’.

Syne ae day a queer wird like aul-nibbet’s himsel
He vowed he wid thrash me if I widnae spell
Says I, ‘Mr Quill’ wi a kind of a swither
I’ll spell ye the wird if ye’ll spell me anither
Lat’s hear ye spell ‘im-hm’, that daft-like wird ‘im-hm’
That auld-farrant ‘im-hm’, ye ken it means ‘aye’

Syne he steid an he glowered an he scratched his aul pate
An he shouted, Ye villain get oot o ma gate
Get aff tae yer seat, ye’re a plague o the skweel
The deil gin I ken if ye’re maist rogue or feel
Bit I only said ‘im-hm’, that daft-like wird ‘im-hm’
That auld-farrant ‘im-hm’, ye ken it means ‘aye’.

Oh and when a braw wooer I coorted my Jean
O aa the braw lassies the pride an the queen
When in my great plaidie wi hairt beatin’s pain
O I speired in a whisper, Oh! if she’d be my ain
She smiled an said ‘im-hm’, she blushed an said ‘im-hm’
A thoosan times sweeter an dearer than ‘aye’.

Well bit noo I’m a dad wi a hoose o my ain
A dainty-bit wife aye an mair than ae wean
Bit the warst o’t is this when I question I speir
They pit on a luik sae auld-farrant an queer
An they only say ‘im-hm’, that daft-like wird ‘im-hm’
That auld-farrant ‘im-hm’ that stans for an ‘aye’.

Noo ye’ve heard o this ‘im-hm’, it’s no a nice wird
When printit on paper it’s perfect absurd
So if you’re ower lazy tae open yer maw
Jist haud o yer tongue an say nothing ava
But niver say ‘im-hm’, that daft-like wird ‘im-hm’
That auld-farrant ‘im-hm’, ye ken it means ‘aye’.

‘Drumallochie’

A favourite love song as sung by Tom Reid

’Twas on a chill November’s night when fruits and flowers were gone,
One evening as I wandered forth upon the banks o Don,
I overheard a fair maid and sweetly this sang she,
‘My love he’s far fae Sinnahard an fae Drumallochie.’

I said, ‘My pretty fair maid, you’re walkin here alone,
Lamenting for some absent one upon the banks o Don;
Come tell the reason o your grief, come tell it aa tae me,
An why you sigh for Sinnahard an fae Drumallochie.’

‘Oh, Peter was my true love’s name, he lived on the banks o Don,
He was as nice as a young man that e’er the sun shone on;
But the cruel wars o Scotland they hae pairted him frae me,
An noo he’s far fae Sinnahard an fae Drumallochie.’

I said, ‘My pretty fair maid, you’ll give to me your hand,
For on the bonnie banks o Spey I hae baith hoose and land,
And I will share it aa wi you if you will be my bride,
And you’ll forsake the bonnie lad that lived upon Donside.’

Says she, ‘Kind sir, your offer’s good but I must it deny,
And, for the sake o my true love, a maid I’ll live an die,
An for the space o seven years when black shall cover me
For him who lived at Sinnahard nearby Drumallochie.’

But since my love was weepin, I could no longer stand,
I clasped her in my airm an says, ‘Oh, Betsy, know your man;
Behold your faithful Peter now, he’s free fae every care,
And on the bonnie banks o Don we’ve met tae pairt nae mair,
Aye, and on the bonnie banks o Don we’ve met tae pairt nae mair.

Cullerlie Farm Park  and Heritage Centre was set up by Tom ('Tam') and Anne Reid in 1993 and is now run by Anne’s daughter Tracey Walker and her husband Eric, as well as other members of the family. Tom moved to the Cullerlie Estate with his parents in 1935, and worked with his father in the traditional way of farming. He kept the traditions alive by turning the old original steading into a farm museum with one of the largest privately owned collections of farming and domestic memorabilia in Scotland. Anne, who was from nearby Peterculter, joined Tom when they married in 1975.

Tom (born 1929) was a legendary singer, having been crowned, in 1977, the Bothy Ballad King before a crowd of 10,000 at the Haughs in Turriff, a title that remained his until his death in January 2003. Anne (1939–2006) was also a fine singer and promoted the traditions of the North-East through singing and speaking workshops with schoolchildren and adults at local schools and at the museum, as well as hosting regular Saturday-night ceilidhs. It is the family’s express wish that the festival should continue to run in memory of Tom and Anne.

At the Park there is a tearoom where members of staff serve soup, sandwiches, and lots of home cooking. They cater for all needs with a baby changing area plus disabled facilities. The Park nestles at the foot of the Hill of Fare where the battles of Corrichie and Cullerlie Moor were fought. It is 6 miles north-east of Banchory and 12 miles west of Aberdeen. From Aberdeen follow the A944 to the Westhill traffic lights, then turn left on the B9119 to Garlogie, then fork left again on the B9125 for 3 miles. The Park is on the right.