Celebrating Extraordinary Scottish Women
October 25, 2010
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine there was a woman walking this world who had had a three-pin electrical plug removed from her skull – when she was two years old……
Apart from that exceptional tale, Sarah seemed remarkably normal, telling her story with great verve and humour. Then there was newly married Chris, who won a holiday to Amsterdam which clashed with her wedding anniversary. Her husband insisted that she should go. In the winners group she ran into someone she knew slightly, agreed to be her roommate for the trip, and they have been best friends for all the many years since then.
Anne told a family tale from her Highland background, in which her great-grandmother who had the Second Sight correctly predicted, on her deathbed, great changes which would come to her remote island village many years thence.
Jackie set us all a challenge to go and visit remote Unst in the Shetland Isles, the most Northerly part of Great Britain, where she had been last month, as part of a remit to teach public speaking to second year Secondary pupils. “Go to Unst! ” became a rallying cry for the evening, held at the Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland, UK – one of Europe’s most vibrant cultural venues.
And what an evening it was. Our hosts, Lauren Currie and Cassie Robinson, great connectors both, had the bright idea of issuing invitations to a range of women in Scotland, suggested to them by their friends and associates as people who were making distinctive creative contributions in a variety of fields to Scotland’s economic, social, educational and artistic life. I was honoured to have been put forward by my friend, positive psychology advocate and independent thinker Emily Cutts.
Emily, currently on a six-month sabbatical in San Diego, California, co-writes a section of my Web Magazine “Writing from the Twelfth House” which I have been running since the summer of 2008.
The tenor of the evening was friendly, relaxed and good-humoured right from the start as we were offered a glass of wine and began to get to know one another. I had been at networking events before where I could barely hear myself think above the clattering of surrounding egos: it wasn’t like that at all.
Scotland had, and still has, a strong tradition of story and song. Lauren and Cassie were inspired in playing to both those cultural strengths during the evening.
The Story Locator!
The colourful tales recounted above were taken from their icebreaking opening exercise – an invitation to tell stories evoked by a range of Scottish place names, read out against a visual background of a very large blank map of Scotland pinned to the wall facing our group of about thirty women of ages ranging from 20s to 60s. As each story was told, Sarah – who led the exercise – would write a headline on a post-it note, then stick it on the map roughly where the story originated.
It was a brilliant exercise – by invitation rather than putting people on the spot – in which everyone was able to tell a story or share with the group something about themselves. I was really struck by the enterprise, imagination, range of activities, confidence and creativity revealed.
After having been dined as well as wined, came the “surprise” of the evening: Lauren had met a colourful and talented performer just the previous evening, and invited her along to entertain us. On came “Tartan Heather” : dressed from head to foot in – yes! – tartan, carrying a borhan. Her short, passionate performance, a mix of traditional Gaelic song, mouth music, and her own compositions within a traditional setting, captivated us.
"Tartan Heather"
I was not surprised to discover, on conversing with her afterwards, that she comes from the Travelling People of Scotland, whose musical heritage holds memorable traditional Scottish folk singers such as the late Jeannie Robertson. Some performers evoke the soul of that centuries-old deep, dark and powerful river of folk memory underlying the music. “Heather” is one such singer; it was a privilege to hear her.
The evening flew by. At its end, there was plenty of hugging and exchanging of cards and email addresses. Lauren and Cassie were well organised: at the door was a plastic memory board featuring our names where we could write contact details. Everyone was happy for a list to be prepared and circulated later. On the opposite wall was another board. We were invited to write down OUR suggestions this time – for extraordinary women we would like to see invited to the next event.
In time honoured fashion, those with the most remaining stamina then retired to the pub.
Despite emerging into a dark, damp, dreary glaswegian night (no surprise there!) I set off for home feeling cheerful, heart-warmed and inspired. Well done, Lauren and Cassie. It feels like something new has just been born. Let’s see where we can take it from here……
****************
800 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2010
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page
****************
AWhitaker 2009 Photo: Lynne Connor
Anne Whitaker is a Web writer who launched her magazine “Writing from the Twelfth House” in 2008. “MoreBitsFallOff.com“ - never give up, never give in! - is the new section of the magazine, co-written with positive psychology advocate and independent thinker Emily Cutts.
To find out more about Anne, click HERE
