Eachdraidh-beatha

Charles Fiddes Reid was born in 1907 in Rora, Aberdeenshire. Growing up in a strong Scots-speaking farming community in Buchan, he was immersed in the strong oral tradition of the area, acquiring a vast repertoire of songs, stories and poetry. At school, he also enjoyed learning about the work of renowned Scots poets such as Burns and Scott

He left school at the age of 13, first working on the farm, before taking a tailoring apprenticeship. Having received advice that there was no future in tailoring, he then left Scotland to serve as a Police Officer with the Metropolitan Police in London.

He remained in England for the rest of his life, but was fiercely proud of his Buchan roots, and was a regular contributor of prose and poetry in Doric to the Buchan Observer in Peterhead. After his death in 1983, these poems and stories were compiled by Charles' son and published in two booklets, in order to memorialise his work.

On the Tobar an Dualchais website we have more than 142 recordings o Charles, carried out in the 1960s by the American folklorist Professor Kenneth Goldstein. These recordings contain a rich variety of songs and stories, and are a precious example of Buchan language and folklore.