Fyvie reminiscences [transcript]
Kelman, BettyUUUU
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Imprint:
Formartine Partnership 2008.
Series title:
Formartine Oral History Project ; FP110611
Notes:
Interviewed by Helen Taylor on 7/11/06.Accompanies CD Bib No 584561.Summary: Betty was born on 29 December 1923 in Woodhead, had two older brothers, and came from a farming background. She begins by talking about the family croft which her father took over from her grandfather; schooldays, teachers, how her grandmother taught her to knit; Scottish Country dancing, which consisted of lessons through the week and a dance at weekends; animals on the croft; how the house was heated without central heating; bad winters and having to walk in the snow when it was as high as the dykes; shops in Woodhead; the water supply; Betty talks about how silly she thought it was that her parents took the family a two mile walk to the church in Fyvie on a Sunday when there was the Free Church in Woodhead! She goes into more detail about the services and Sunday School; Betty returns to talking about school and the lack of lunches; She speaks about knitting for Christmas presents; how she remembers a neighbour, Mrs Gordon knitting with four needles and using a knitting sheath to hold the needles while she worked; her own father's horse and gig and where he went with it; Helen asks her about food, meat and how her mother made lemonade; Betty worked on the croft after leaving school as her mother was ill, and she talks about enjoying working with the cows and calves. She then goes on to talk about her married life and the farms/ crofts she and her husband lived on up to 1984 when her husband died; they go back to talking about children and poor weather; Betty remembers her wedding day and how she had to go to the outside toilet in her underwear before getting ready with her dress!; She recalls how people did not ever incur debt by buying on credit, if they couldn't afford it, they didn't buy!; Betty talks about her grandparents and their lives, her own children, the Woodhead drama group; she ends by saying how she met a lad in Canada that was the cousin of her Sunday School teacher Miss Annand, and Helen agrees that it is a small world!
Local class:
F1
Language:
English
BRN:
644078