Family history; Janet Higgins' creative writing based on her...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1981.85
Original Tape ID
Summary
Creative writing based on her father's experiences in the First World War.
The contributor's father's father was a soldier in India and South Africa and was away for thirteen years. His wife, Maria, was left a widow, and on the day that Jeannie [Robertson] was born, there was no food in the house. Her older sons went out after school and got food for the rest of the children by busking.
The contributor reads from a piece of creative writing, entitled 'It's been a Lang Day, Laddie' (that is, a long day until Resurrection morning), based on her father's experience of the horrors of war. His best friend fell asleep on duty and was shot for it. She talks about how her father eventually recovered from the effect this had on him. She summarises her fictionalised account, in which the dead comrade appears in a vision and her father opens a Bible at the words, "When I was a child, I thought as a child," and regains his sense of identity. Her father was about eighteen when he married and her mother was seventeen. During his military service, he was buried alive for two days [tape ends abruptly].
Item Notes
The quotation is from 1 Corinthians 13:11.
Recording Location
County - Kincardineshire
Parish - Fetteresso
Village/Place - Stonehaven
Language
English
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good