GRTHM 2021

Our History is All Around by Maggie McPhee

Argyll based scrapman John has never lived in a house and spent most of his life on the road.

A Sawchen lecture by Ioanida Costache

This 1976 film documents the lives of some of Scotland’s Highland Travellers with rare footage of traditional ways such as tinsmithing and tent building. The soundtrack includes singing and music played by Travellers.

June is Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month, and in celebration we’re exploring the long history of the Gypsy/Traveller community within the Gairloch area.

MECOPP peoms of the week 2

Kathy McGuigan from Auchindrain Township demonstrates wooden flower dying.

During the lockdowns of the past year, James has taught himself piano using Youtube videos. Here he shows just how much he has learned!

Singer and piper Ian MacGregor, eldest son of the late, great Sheila Stewart, carries on traditions of the Stewarts of Blair, with old and new songs.

Jess tells a story from her own granny.

Spending most of her life on the road, Margaret had to find many ways of contributing to the family’s finances. Here she talks to MECOPP’s Shirell Johnson about some of the many jobs she has had throughout her life.

MECOPP Poem of the Week 3

Robert Fell is undertaking a PhD in Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

A young gypsy/travellers poem

In this, our second post for Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month, we’re tracing several Gypsy/Traveller families through the census records, from 1851 until 1911…

James MacPherson was the illegitimate son of a Highland Laird and his mother a beautiful Gypsy girl.

MECOPP Poem of the Week 4

In our last two posts celebrating Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month you’ll have seen that a pool on the River Kerry, Poll nan Ceàirdidhean, was named after the Gypsy/Travellers who would camp nearby. Here Willie MacRae, who’s family have farmed Kerrysdale since 1936, tells us about the families and camps he remembers from his childhood in the 1950s and 60s…