My Third Way Back Wednesday Post
























This photograph is of my paternal Great Grandfather Andrew who was the eldest son of Ellen and Andrew. I have no idea the year the photograph was taken but I do know that the location was a photographic studio in Edinburgh.

Andrew was a Gentleman with reputation for being a ladies man as well as what was known then as a 'dapper dresser'. He achieved a certain notoriety for his bare-knuckle boxing skills and his ability to hold two house bricks in one hand.

Depending on whom you were speaking with at the time Andrew was either a saint or a sinner!

My Great Grandfather was extremely proud of his family history and claimed strong Jacobite ties for our family. When the First World War broke out he returned to Scotland to enlist in The Royal Scots and was accepted although he did not see any action as he was judged as being too old for the front line.

Although Andrew lived in England for most of his life his roots were undoubtably firmly in Scotland and his life here could best be described as that of a Scot in Exile.

My Great Grandfather lived until his early 90s and I have a vague childhood memory of him presenting me with half-a-crown and calling me his "bonny lassie".

Other WBW posts:

Eleanor
Ellen
Mary Anne

Labels: Family History, Genealogy, Miladysa, Way Back Wednesday

Posted by Miladysa at 9:33 PM 11 Comments

"Frustrated by no sign of reform at home, the leading campaigners of the day took matters in to their own hands. On 10 October 1903, the Women's Social and Political Union - its members soon be nicknamed the suffragettes - held its inaugural meeting, and declared that the situation was so serious it would have to pursue extreme measures of civil disobedience."























My second Way Back Wednesday post.

This photograph of my paternal 2 x Great Grandmother Ellen was taken in Edinburgh in 1878. This was also the year she married my 2 x Great Grandfather Andrew.

Shortly after this photograph was taken Ellen and Andrew travelled from Edinburgh to Liverpool where they lived for many years before moving to a town a few miles away from where I live today. It was to be over twenty years before they eventually returned to Edinburgh following the death of my 3 x Great Grandfather.

Ellen and Andrew were what is sometimes referred to as social reformers and held political views which were considered revolutionary at the time and are still considered so in certain parts of the world today. They were members of The Fabian Society, supporters of the Co-operative and Trade Unionist Movements and Ellen and her daughters were Suffragettes.













I remember listening to stories told by my 2 x Great Aunt Ellen of how they would hold meetings to discuss Votes for Women and Family Planning. At the time, these subjects were considered so offensive that they were in fact criminal and they faced the threat of arrest.

Their lifestyle certainly did not endear them to their parents’ inheritance wise although as a descendant I am very proud of their endeavours and the risks that they took. Each time I exercise my right to vote I thank them for the precious legacy they helped to leave to myself as well as society as a whole.

Other WBW posts:

Andrew
Eleanor
Mary Anne

Labels: Family History, Genealogy, Miladysa, Way Back Wednesday

Posted by Miladysa at 11:07 AM 12 Comments

I have always wanted to take part in Way Back Wednesday ever since I saw a post by The Persian.

This is a photograph of my paternal great grandmother Mary Anne and her family; I should imagine that this was taken around 1908.

My grandmother is the little girl sitting on the back row. Every time I look at this photograph I am always amazed by the striking resemblance between my grandmother and my granddaughter M.

The photograph always poses many questions for me; I wonder what the occasion was and where it was taken. I assume from the stylish background that it was probably taken on my great grandfather John Willie's farm.

I love the rather grand hat Mary Anne is wearing! Apparently she had quite an outgoing personality and once unintentionally dyed her hair green after purchasing a shampoo from a peddler who happened to call at the farm one day.

Mary Anne was a descendant of John Bibby who founded the Bibby Shipping Line.

There has been some talk in the family that our branch of the Bibby family were once involved with smuggling and piracy but of course I am sure this is all based on rumour rather than fact :)

Other WBW posts:

Big Andy
Eleanor
Ellen

Labels: Family History, Genealogy, Miladysa, Way Back Wednesday

Posted by Miladysa at 1:43 PM 8 Comments

Rush Cart

Last night was the Rush Cart Festival. The Rush Cart is an event where rushes are placed on a cart and paraded through the village until eventually making its way to the village square where the celebrations continue. Our village square is overlooked by the parish church and the rushes will meet their final destination at the service on Sunday morning when they will be blessed.

Rushes are plants like reeds and heathers. They are sweet smelling and were used in the past to carpet floors and insulate buildings during the winter months. They were taken to the church this time of year to help to insulate it over the winter. History tells us that a Roman Emperor issued an edict ordering these parades to take place but it is almost certain that he was only rubber stamping something that was already happening.

Rush Cart Festivals are dying out throughout the country and very few places continue this ancient tradition, in fact, the ones I know you can count on one hand.

The celebrations are accompanied by dancing and we have our own local folk dancers The Coco-nutters who are unique as they black their faces and wear a costume similar to that of Moorish pirates.













No one knows for sure if the tradition of ‘blacking up’ relates our mining past or if we inherited it from Moorish miners who came to the village hundreds of years ago. Personally, I think that the blacking up roots go far deeper into the past as I can remember blacking up as a child and joining my cousins in a tradition known as ‘mumming’. Sadly, the mumming tradition has now died out completely in these parts.

I believe with all my heart that it is our duty to keep these traditions and our unique culture alive as long as we possibly can.

Labels: Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 1:39 PM 13 Comments

Throughout the dream I am aware that everything is significant....

I am squatting down by the side of a stream which has a bed of small pebbles of various shades but mainly golden in colour, some of them are flint like. The water is crystal clear although very shallow. In the distance the colour of the river appears a very pale green-blue.

My feet and legs to just above the calf are covered in what looks and feels like a soft putty coloured suede. I am also wearing a ‘skirt’ of the same material, same colour.

Reaching out my left hand [I am right handed] I place it palm upwards in the water for a few seconds. My skin has a golden hue, it is a male hand- not my own.

I look across the wide river [possibly more that 12 feet across] into the forest on the other side. The forest floor is almost grey in colour, there are old leaves and pine needles but it is not a pine forest, there are a lot of different types of trees. I am warm but the forest is darker and cooler than where I am. My eyes search the part of the forest across the river for animals, positively seeking to see rather than wanting to hunt, I am not a hunter.

I look down to my right hand and I am holding what I think may be a bow, made of bone not wood as I would have expected. I think it is a bow but there is no string. The bone is carved, not by man but by nature, the texture is important, it is not smooth. The bone is special. I think there are two thin straps of leather on the bone, they dangle down. I am not sure now that it is a bow. I can hear the river; it is slow flowing and soft.

There is background noise; this is far away. There is chanting and drumming, the same thing over and over. Soft, calm, hopeful chanting. The chanting is from a circle of men who are sitting on what appears to be a stage made of rock which is jutting out from a huge rock face. The men are conducting a ceremony while people watch them from the land about ten feet below. There are no trees and scarce grass, the earth is dusty.

I note it has become more of an event than a ceremony, only one person is chanting sincerely and although he is silent to the others I can hear that he is chanting within. There are no drums. I think it is the man’s heart which is drumming as he chants. I know he is wise. He wears a tartan shirt, which is of blue and green plaid. There are a lot of feathers about him but he holds his in his hand, it is still. He knows that I will come to him; the others do not believe that I am on my way, they have no faith. There have been many old men before him.

I hear a bird screech and tilt my head backwards to look up into the sky, a clear deep blue with no clouds. As I tilt my head I feel heavy hair trailing on my back between my shoulders, my hair is not tied yet it does not fall forward. I do not see the bird. I turn to my right and my friend is looking directly at me and in the look I follow him through to what appears to be some stone steps leading to where the men are sitting. There is a feeling of complete safety and wellbeing, I am in no danger.

I know that I now have the appearance of Miladysa yet my friend notices no change.

I hear another screech and look up to the top of the rock where there is an eagle watching. I look down at my friend; he wants me to present him with the ‘bow’ but not in a physical sense more through a mental image. Just before I awake I see a stag standing behind the man who is chanting.

I look forward to the next dream…

Labels: Dreams Forest Lucid Life, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 2:16 PM 14 Comments

Whenever I sleep I dream. Sometimes, upon waking, it may take a while before I am clear, what has been a dream and what is reality.

Last year, around springtime, I returned home from work early one afternoon and was greeted by an unexpected visitor. I had parked my car on our drive and walked around to the passenger side in order to walk down the side of the house and to the front door. I was amazed to be greeted by a large bird sitting calmly on the drive staring directly at me.

There was a trail of blood, almost aubergine in colour, leading from the tyre of my car to a large lump of flesh and what appeared to be grey fur or possibly feathers clutched in the bird's enormous talons. I noted the size of the talons and height of the bird – much larger than a cockerel. The gloss of his feathers was remarkable; the chest feathers were multicoloured and beautifully patterned similar to those of a thrush. The wing colour was much darker and less patterned than the chest, the beak large and bold.

I was spellbound by his beautiful eyes which looked directly into my own and for what seemed an age we danced together before he rose upwards and flew at a level no more than 4 feet high down the side of the house and landed under the silver birch tree in the rear garden. The manoeuvre took me unawares and I remember thinking, because of his wingspan, that he would almost certainly crash into the stone walls of the house. I was wrong, there was plenty of room and he sailed along without incident.

I was quite elated with our meeting; there was almost a mystical element to it. As soon as I entered the house I seized a telephone and related the events to my husband at the same time observing the bird who was still sitting under the tree watching me. Suddenly, almost before I noticed he was gone.

Later, I telephoned the local wildlife ranger and asked if we had a new visitor to the Dell, I gave him a description of the bird I had met. He ran through a number of birds with me and I explained that they had not been my visitor. I searched the internet; the golden eagle appeared to be the nearest match although the chest feathers did not appear to be the same as on the bird I had seen.

Recently, my dreams have been of Native Americans, they are accompanied by chanting, shallow flowing rivers with pebble beds, tall trees and a bird screeching. Before I open my eyes I see my friend as clearly as I saw him that afternoon. Being the type of person I am, I am convinced there is a message here but at the moment I am not sure what it is.

Labels: Dreams Eagle Visitor Life, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 7:03 PM 15 Comments