Advent Quiz - Day 25

Merry Christmas to all our readers! 

Wishing you all a joyful festive season and many happy hours of reading in 2015.

The Stromness Library is now closed for the holidays but will re-open on 5th January 2015 at 2pm.

Just to clarify that we are still in the old library at Hellihole Road for the moment and will give you plenty of warning when we know the date of our move to the new library building at the Pier head. 

In our final question of our Advent Quiz we want to take you back to a time before even this library was built and let you see how the view up Hellihole Road looked then.

Question 25


In the photo the two children are standing where the library is now, and the camera is looking up Hellihole Road. The building furthest away with its gable end facing us is no longer standing, having been demolished in 1937, but can you tell us what it was?

(hint - the photo is taken from the book Stromness Late 19th Century  Photographs, or if you walk up Hellihole Road there is a plaque marking the place where the building stood.)

So ends our Advent Quiz for 2014, we hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. 
Don't forget to go back and work on any of the questions you might have missed, there is a fabulous prize for the person with the most correct answers. 
You have until 31st December to submit your answers as comments below each day's post. 
The answers will be published, and the winner announced on 5th January 2015.

Good Luck!

Answer: The Subscription School

Advent Quiz - Day 24

Question 24

Which old Stromness custom, which came to an end in 1936, used to take place in the town on Christmas Eve? 

Post your answer as a comment below. 
Entries close on 31st December.
Answers will be published and the winner announced on 5th January 2015.

Answer: The Yule Tree, which was fought over between Northenders and Southenders in a tug-of-war.

Advent Quiz - Day 23

Question 23

George Mackay Brown wrote 'Per Mare:The Stromness Pagent' from which the following is an extract. But can you tell us in which year it was performed?

Tall houses, with gardens and piers,Where the stylish merchants lived, Small slipways for the fishermen, A new kirk, inns and ale-houses,The street uncoiled like a sailor's rope from north to south.And closes swarmed up the side of the hillAmong gardens and clouds, And closes stepped down to the harbourAnd the nets and whitemaas. 

(hint - have a look in the book Stromness Late 19th Century Photographs)

Post your answer as a comment below. 
Entries close on 31st December.
Answers will be published and the winner announced on 5th January 2015.

Answer: 1967

Advent Quiz - Day 11

Question 11

The picture above, from the Robertson collection in Orkney archive, is on display in Stromness Library. It shows a tinker family camping in Stromness, but can you identify where in Stromness this is?

Answer: The stone building at the rear of the picture is the old slaughter house, and the area pictured is now the site of the new Stromness Primary School.

Advent Quiz - Day 9

Question 9

In 1992 the book Sea Haven: Stromness in the Orkney Islands was published. Can you tell us the name of the photographer, the author of the text, and who wrote the foreword?


Please post your answer as a comment. 
Closing date for entries is 31 December 2014.
Answers will be published, and the winner announced, on 5 January 2015.

Answer: Photographer- Keith Allardyce
              Text - Bryce Wilson
               Foreword - George Mackay Brown

The Knitter Scientific

It's been a wonderful week of weather here in Orkney, with visitors and residents alike enjoying sunny strolls along the street in Stromness. We've enjoyed meeting those who have taken a break from the sun to visit the library, both new visitors and familiar faces. 

It was particularly nice to get chatting to a regular visitor who turns out to be a fellow knitter and Ravelry member Westendangela from Dundee. Combining her job as a biochemist with her passion for all things woolly she has been using knitting to bring her research to life. 

Her most recent project,  as part of the Women in Science Festival, involved creating a knitted display for her local yarn shop representing the human  blood stream when dealing with the sleeping sickness (her area of research) , with knitted red blood cells, white cells, Trypanosomes, the flu virus, and the DNA helix. 

knitted Trypanosome being attacked by antibodies

We are hoping Anglea might be able to join us at Yap and Yarn on a future visit to Orkney, but in the meantime she has very kindly left us a knitted Trypanosome of our very own. 

While researchers like Angela are studying the behaviour of the Trypanosome parasites, in the hope of developing more effective drug treatments, charity MSF (Doctors Without Borders) is responsible for supplying and distributing the drugs currently used to treat Sleeping Sickness, the disease caused by the Trypanosome parasite.

Sleeping Sickness is a devastating disease spread by the Tsetse fly, which  poses a risk to 60 million people in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. To find out more about Sleeping Sickness and the role of the Trypanosome parasites visit the MSF website, where you can also donate to support the work of MSF in offering treatment to those suffering from this, and other, neglected tropical diseases. 

Midsummer, St. Magnus, and a (knitted) mouse

Despite the low cloud, the slightly chilly air, and a lack of sun, it is in fact midsummer. Here in Orkney this means not only an excuse to celebrate what George Mackay Brown described as 'the over-brimming of the year's well of light'*, but also to enjoy this year's St Magnus International Festival. 

Today in Stromness Town Hall at 5.30pm the first performance of this year's Johnsmas Foy will take place, when Sarah Jane Gibbon will direct 'The Raven Banner, Twelve Valkyries & a Ghost Army'. This will be a commemoration of the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf, through song, poetry, story-telling and Old Norse writings performed by Sarah, along with poet Emma Grieve, composer Aimee Leonard and storyteller Tom Muir. 

For those who would like to know more about how midsummer and Johnsmas were traditionally celebrated, then we would recommend Midsummer, Johnsmas and bonfires on the UHI Centre for Nordic Studies website and also the excellent articles on Orcadian Bonfire Traditions  and A Year of Orcadian Tradition from the Orkneyjar site. 

In a break from tradition this year's St Magnus Festival features two workshops by Norwegian knitting celebrities Arne & Carlos. These have proved so popular that both Kirkwall and Stromness workshops have sold out, but we know that at least some of our library Yap and Yarn group members have been lucky enough to get tickets - including our library assistant Becky. During the workshop Arne & Carlos will be leading participants through their pattern for Magnus Garden Mouse, from their latest book Knit-and-Crochet Garden, which is, of course, available from the library.

We hope Becky will bring her Magnus into the library for a visit when he is finished and we'll try to get a photo to show you. If anyone else has knitted Magnus do please send us a photo and we'll share them on the blog. 

 Arne and Carlos

Magnus Garden Mouse

So it's going to be a busy weekend here in Stromness, but however, and where ever, you are going to be celebrating, we hope your solstice, St Magnus Festival, and Johnsmas  are full of midsummer magic.

*  from "Solstice of Light" in Under Brinkie's Brae, 1979, p.147

Diana Leslie exhibition

A familiar sight around Stromness is local artist Diana Leslie, who can be seen out in all weathers working at various locations around the town. Tomorrow, Saturday 7 June sees the start of her latest exhibition, 'Pitch' at Northlight gallery in Stromness, where the public will get the chance to see the finished pieces until Saturday 14 June. 

We are looking forward to seeing familiar local landmarks from the artist's perspective, but for those of you who won't make it along here is Diana's  painting of the Northlight gallery in Graham Place, and a link to her website where you can find out more about the artist and her work. 

http://dianaleslieinorkney.com/

Orkney Ocean Energy Day

Well that's the last day of May and it's hard to believe that it will be June tomorrow. The summer months in Stromness bring a new busyness to the street, with visitors exploring the piers and closes while the local cats rest between photo-shoots :-) We wonder how many holiday snaps feature Rosie the cat sunning herself in Graham Place? 

As well as those visiting the town on holiday there are many who come to Stromness for work or study, including of course those involved in the marine renewables sector. While most folk in are aware of the presence of marine renewable activity in and around Stromness, a public open day on Tuesday 3rd June, organised by The European Marine Energy Centre Ltd (EMEC), wil offer the opportunity to find out more about the work taking place in Orkney,  visit some of the test sites and see energy devices in action. 

The full programme of events can be downloaded from the EMEC website, but perhaps of particular interest to Stromness folk will be the chance to see inside EMEC's substation and Aquamarine Power's power station at the EMEC Bilia Croo wave test site at Outertown. The Billia Croo site will be open to the public from 4-6pm and the meeting point is the car park.

http://www.waveplam.eu/page/?id=177

Happy Folk Festival!

We would like to wish you all a very happy Orkney Folk Festival weekend! 

Whether you are looking forward to hearing one of the many visiting acts, enjoying a session with some of our very own home grown Orkney talent, or just soaking up the atmosphere as Stromness buzzes with life and music, don't forget to visit the Stromness library, where you can borrow CDs of many of the star performers from previous years. 

Did we mention that CD loans are now FREE!

So there's even more to enjoy in Stromness this Folk Festival weekend - all we need now is the sun to come out! 

Stromness From the Sea

We wanted to share this lovely little film about Stromness with our blog readers. It has been made by P6 pupils at Stromness Primary School working with the Stromness THI team as part of the wider  'Stromness  from the Sea' project. 

After learning about the history of Stromness and its relationship with the sea, the pupils carried out research, wrote the script, did all the drawing and animation, and recorded the soundtrack, in collaboration with teachers and local experts. 

Stromness From The Sea from SPS on Vimeo.

You can read more about the project here,and find out more about the town on the Stromness website. As well as being available to view on the website the film will also be shown on the MV Hamnavoe during sailings. 

John Rae talk

http://www.johnraesociety.com/

Tomorrow evening (Thursday 1st May) The John Rae Society will be hosting a talk by Doug Pritchard, Serior Lecturer at Heriot-Watt University,  who will speak on "The Digital Scanning of the Hall of Clestrain".

http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/obm/index.asp?pageid=2657

The talk will be held at the Royal Hotel, Stromness, starting at 7.30pm, and admission is free.

 

Gunnie Moberg Archive Open Day

Our exhibition 'Between the human and the natural' – portrait and landscape photography of Gunnie Moberg – continues until Wednesday 5 February.

 Following the success of the first open day, Rebecca Marr will be back tomorrow, Saturday 1st February, with boxes of prints of Stromness from the Gunnie Moberg Archive for you to look through. 

The Open Day runs from 1-4pm and everyone is welcome to come along to look through the images, and see if they can identify the people and places Gunnie captured on film. 

You can see examples of some of the prints of Stromness on the Gunnie Moberg Archive Blog.

Here are some images from the first Open Day on 18th January, when around sixty folk came along and enjoyed delving into the treasures from the archive. 

images: Mark Jenkins. Stromness Library 18 January Gunnie Moberg Archive Open Day

Advent Book Quiz Day 14

Day fourteen of our festive quiz

Another Orkney non-fiction title and author for you today, with an extract about an old Yule tradition here in Stromness. 

If you know the author and title submit your answer as a comment below. Comments will be published and the answers, and winner, announced on 3rd January. You have until 1st January to enter, so plenty of time to identify any extracts you've missed so far.

A yearly tug-of-war, with the ultimate possession of a Yule tree as its object, took place in Stromness (O) each Christmas Eve until 1936. A tree of some kind - for trees are scarce in the islands - was taken from a garden without the owner's knowledge and carried to the middle of the town. Chains or ropes were attached to it and a trial of strength began. The old town of Stromness, like Kirkwall, consists of a narrow winding street, but there was a point of delimitation between Northenders and Southenders, and their ancient rivalry found expression in an attempt to drag the tree to a traditional goal well within the territory of the faction which proved most powerful. The contest was a robust, often a turbulent one. As the route was skirted by the sea, the tree invariably ended its journey in the water, followed now and then by an over-zealous player. 

Remember, remember ...

Happy Hallowe'en

A Neepie Luntrin by Charles Hemingway http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/a-neepie-luntrin-106554

Looking for an alternative to neepie lanterns and the like this evening? Then you might like to go along to the Pier Arts Centre at 7.30pm when the Writing the North Project will be holding a public event called 'Creative Journeys'. 

Local writers Pamela Beasant, Yvonne Gray, Morag MacInnes and Alison Miller will be joined academics for an evening of readings,  talks, and discussion on how writers write in Orkney, both now and in previous centuries. The event is free and open to all.  

Storytelling Festival

Today sees the start of the Orkney Storytelling Festival 2013 with a full programme of events over the next four days. As in previous years the events take place in a number of venues throughout Orkney including the following events in Stromness:

Thursday 24th 

7-8.30pm  - The Canadian connection  with Bob Pegg, Tom Muir,  and Dale Jarvis in The Royal Hotel

Meet the Storytellers/Open Mic session - 9-10pm in The Royal Hotel

Friday 25th 

9.30-10.30 am - Roots and Flutes Workshop - with Bob Pegg in the Stromness Community 
Centre

Saturday 26th 

2-4pm - Trans-Atlantic Tales - with Dale Jarvis, Lawrence Tulloch, Tom Muir, Amber Connolly and Rachael Torrance in the Stromness Town Hall

Then on Sunday 27th there will be a very special afternoon of Folk Tales from Near and Far with Tom Muir and Lawrence Tulloch in Betty's Reading Room  from 2-4pm. This is a free event but ticketed due to the limited space so you will need to book ahead to avoid disappointment. 

See the Orkney Storytelling Festival website for full details of all events, ticket prices and booking information. 

Dr John Rae

image from http://www.johnrae200.co.uk/

Stromness is abuzz this weekend as delegates gather for the John Rae 200 International Conference. The conference explores the life and legacy of the arctic explorer, who was born at the Hall of Clestrain in Orphir, and grew up in and around Stromness where his father had taken over the Hudson's Bay Company agency.

Organised by the Stromness Museum, the conference features papers organised under three themes: Arctic Exploration, Museum collections and archive sources, and The Hudson's Bay Company and Orcadians in "The Nor' Wast". The full conference program can be viewed on the John Rae 200 website which also has a full list of events which have been organised to commemorate and celebrate Rae's bicentenary. 

This evening, as part of the conference a statue of John Rae will be unveiled at the Pier Head.  The ceremony takes place at 7.15pm for anyone who would like to go along. We won't make it but will try to take a photo of the statue for you next week . In the meantime here is the before picture of John Rae under wraps - or perhaps modelling the latest design for all-in-one arctic gear?!

If you'd like to learn about John Rae and his explorations, and find out why many feel his achievements have never received the official recognition they deserve, then come along to the library. Among the titles on Rae you will find No Ordinary Journey - published by the National Museums of Scotland in 1993 to mark the centenary of Rae's death,  and the two books by Stromness Museum John Rae 200 Exhibition Writer-in-residence, Canadian author Ken McGoogan - Fatal Passage and Lady Franklin's Revenge.

In his role as Writer-in-residence Ken will give a public lecture as part of the conference tomorrow evening, Sunday 29th September, in the Stromness Academy lecture Theatre at 7.30pm. The lecture is entitled Return to Rae Strait and entry is £5 payable at the door. 

Ken McGoogan's books not only tell of Rae's achievements but explain how his report on the fate of the Franklin expedition upset the Victorian establishment -  a campaign against Rae,  led by Lady Franklin, resulted in his achievements being dismissed or wrongly attributed. Many feel that it is time this wrong was righted and that John Rae should receive the official recognition for his achievements that he has, so far, been denied. 

This bicentenary year has seen the launch of the John Rae Society which has been formed to: 

...advance the education of the public in the life and achievements of Dr John Rae as the discoverer of the final navigable link to the Northwest Passage and as one of the greatest arctic explorers. 

Application forms to join the society are available in the library and they have a website under construction at www.johnraesociety.com 

As part of this drive to raise awareness of Rae a campaign was launched at the Orkney International Science Festival  with an online petition asking the minister responsible for the Post Office, Jo Swinson MP, to consider a special stamp to commemorate John Rae. 

You can find out more about Dr John Rae and his achievements in this article from the Orkney International Science Festival's online magazine Frontiers.

image from http://oisf.org/portfolio-items/a-year-of-events-to-honour-john-rae/

Open Windows 2013

Today sees the opening of a new exhibition which turns the main street in Stromness into a gallery space. The theme for the Open Windows 2013 exhibition is No Ordinary Journey - referencing the title of the book about Orcadian arctic explorer Dr John Rae, whose 200th birthday falls on 30th September 2013. 

The writers and artists involved have not necessarily made their work about John Rae but have interpreted the wider theme suggested by the title. 

Take a wander along the street during the exhibition and look out for the compass logo in windows displaying the art works. Including the window here at Stromness Library which features work by Yvonne Gray, Pamela Beasant and the late Margaret Storr Bell.

This is the second Open Windows exhibition with the first taking place in 2011 which you may remember we also took part in.

Seamus Heaney (1939 - 2013)

We were very sad to learn yesterday of the death of the poet Seamus Heaney. He was festival poet at the St Magnus Festival in 1982 and 1994, and was photographed during his first visit by Gunnie Moberg.

photo by Gunnie Moberg http://gunniemobergarchive.wordpress.com/

In the book St Magnus Festival: a celebration compiled and edited by Pamela Beasant, Maureen Gray who worked at the Pier Arts Centre - venue for the festival poet readings - recalls the relationship between Seamus Heaney and Stromness' resident poet, George Mackay Brown :

Seamus Heaney mentioned that it was such an honour to come and read here with George sitting in the audience. George appeared to be in awe of Seamus Heaney too. There was great mutual respect.

The book includes an extract from  Morag MacInnes' review in The Times Educational Supplement from July 2, 1982, where she describes this reading, and Seamus Heaney's effect on the festival audience:

He looked like a piece of bog-cotton among a lot of hot-house orchids: he won his audience with his modesty, his humour, and his brogue.

The mutual respect between Seamus Heaney and George Mackay Brown is evident in each poet's reflections on the other's work. Brown writes of Heaney in The Orcadian, June 23 1994:

The supreme art of making simple events not only memorable but immortal - Seamus Heaney is a master there, like all the great poets.

While Heaney wrote of Brown:

W.H. Auden once called poetry "a way of happening" and in the work of George Mackay Brown the way is a fabulous one; he transforms everything by passing it through the eye of the needle of Orkney. His sense of the world and his way with words are powerfully at one with each other. His vision has something of the skaldic poet's consciousness of inevitable order, something of the haiku master's susceptibility to the delicate and momentary, and since the beginning of his career he has added uniquely and steadfastly to the riches of poetry in English.

Seamus Heaney went on to write the following poem in memory of George Mackay Brown  which was included in the volume Dove-Marks on Stone: Poems for George Mackay Brown which was published to mark what would have been Brown's 75th Birthday in October 1996:

A Landfall
i.m. George Mackay Brown

Far north, in sunlight,
the stone ship ran aground. Larks
sing at the masthead.

A copy of Dove-Marks on Stone is available for reference in The Orkney Room of Orkney Library and Archive in Kirkwall. A copy of St Magnus Festival: a celebration and Seamus Heaney's Open Ground: Poems 1966-1996 are both available to borrow from Stromness Library.

Seamus Heaney was also one of the patrons of The George Mackay Brown Fellowship - along with Sir Andrew Motion and Stewart Conn -  which was established in memory of George Mackay Brown with the aim of both celebrating Brown's writing and encouraging and promoting new creative writing in Orkney. 

This ongoing link with Orkney was a testament to the connection between Seamus Heaney and George Mackay Brown, and today we mourn the loss of another great poet.

photo by Iain Stewart http://www.isphotographs.co.uk/fine_art/portraits.php#../images/seamus-george.JPG