Rowt

This week in the Irish Times (15 February), Diarmaid O Muirithe erxplains the word rowt, which was sent in by a reader in Tyrone.  He says that it refers to the bellow of a bull, the low of a cow, or the bray of an ass.  The reader had also heard it used of the efforts of a singer who has to raise his voice above the din ain a public house.  Thw word is also used as a verb meaning to bellow or roar and is of Scots origin.  It appears in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, which gives examples of its use by Burns, Ramsay and Fergusson, and notes its use in Ulster in 1880 and 1953.

Independently I have come across two examples of its use in Ulster-Scots placenames.  The Routing Burn or ‘roaring stream’ is a boundary stream in Tyrone. There is a description of the parish of Termonmaguirk in the Down Survey, which was executed by Sir William Petty in 1657, and it states that ‘The Owen ne Coggreeght is the stream now called the Routing Burn, which separates on the south the parish of Clogherny from that of Clogher.'

There is also the Routing Wheel, which is a tidal whirlpool in the mouth of the narrow entrance to Strangford, near Portaferry.  In his description of the area in 1683 William Montgomery said, ‘there is a whirle poole called by ye Scotts ye rowting weele from ye loud sound it some tymes makes’.

Scotch-Irish hall of fame (2)

Francis Alison (1705-1779)

Dr Francis Alison was born in the parish of Leck, outside Letterkenny, in county Donegal in 1705 and he was the son of a Presbyterian weaver named Robert Alison.

He was educated at Edinburgh University and after that he possibly attended Glasgow University, where one of his tutors would have been Francis Hutcheson, another Ulster-Scot and the 'Father of the Scottish Enlightenment'.  Certainly he knew Hutcheson well enough to write to him from America in 1744.  

Alison was licensed by the presbytery of Letterkenny in June 1735 and then emigrated from Ulster to America with other family members.

Dr Francis Alison was the father of higher education in the middle colonies. He was vice president of the College of Philadelphia and founded the institution that is now the University of Delaware. Among his students were some of the leaders in the American movement for independence, including three members of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia - Thomas McKean, the son of Ulster-Scots emigrants, Charles Thomson ,another Ulster-Scot, who was born in Maghera, and George Read, whose father had come from Dublin.

According to Kerby Miller, Alison 'perhaps more than any other public figure, helped prepare Pennsylvania's Scots-Irish for their prominent role in the American revolution.'

Alison was regarded by contemporaries as America’s greatest classical scholar and Benjamin Franklin described him as a man of ‘great ingenuity and learning, a catholic divine’.

Alison is known to have had at least one sister, whose son James Latta was born in Donegal in 1732 and who also became a prominent Presbyteiran minister and schoolteacher in Pennsylvania.

The cultural ethos of schools

There is an ongoing debate in Northern Ireland about the replacement of the five Education and Library Boards with a single Education and Skills Authority and in that context there is a debate about the nature and governance of the controlled or state sector.

As a contribution to that debate I waould draw your attention to an article by Jude Collins in the now-defunct Daily Ireland on 24 November 2005.  Jude Collins is a writer and broadcaster and at that time he was also a lecturer on education at the University of Ulster.

Secretary of State Peter Hain had proposed the reorganisation of the education system, with a single education authority and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools becoming an advisory body.  Against that background Jude Collins took the opportunity to write about the importance of the Roman Catholic schools sector:

There are two good reasons for protecting Catholic schools here.

Firstly, they provide a Catholic education for children.  That is they try to help the young people in their schools to see that their religious faith, if it is to be more than a social veneer, permeates all aspects of life.  Catholic schools don't always succeed in this mission.  Some think they fail more than they succeed.  but they try.

Secondly, Catholic education supports a sense of Irish identity.  The schools don't talk a lot about this in their official curricuclum, but it's part of what they do.  Children attending Catholic schools are helped to see that 'visiting the capital' doesn't necessarily mean going to London, that Carndonagh, clones and Carrickmacross are Ulster towns every bit as much as Carrickfergus, Cookstown and Killyleagh - that Irish music and Irish games and the Irish language are a wonderful source of fun and fulfilment, as well as a rich heritage to be proud of.  They give children an Irish lens through which to view the world.

So if yoy're a commited Catholic, you'll be watchful that Mr Hain's plans for the CCMS don't signal an assault on Catholic schools.  If you're a commited nationalist, you'll also be equally watchful, for different reasons.

Repeat it to yourself so you stay alert: for political as well as religious reasons, Catholic education in this state matters.  Some things don't change.

Accortding to the writer, Roman Catholic schools have a religious dimension and a cultural dimension and the cultural dimension is unashamedly Irish and Gaelic.  He says that the sector should therefore be supported by Irish cultural nationalism, because it is supportive of, Irish and Gaelic culture.

The Irish-medium sector also promotes Irish and Gaelic culture but what then of the controlled sector and children in the controlled sector?  I intend to look at several reasons why the cultural ethos of the controlled sector is important.

Scotch-Irish hall of fame (1)

James Gamble (1803-1891)

Procter & Gamble is an American multinational company with its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, and it manufactures a wide range of consumer goods.  In 1946 the company introduced a new detergent called Tide and in 1955 it began selling Crest, the first toothpaste to contain fluoride.  Another innovation came in 1961 when it began to test-market Pampers, the first successful disposable nappies.

The founders of the company were William Procter, an Englishman, and James Gamble, an Ulsterman, who was born at the Graan, near Enniskillen, on 3 April 1803.  He was educated at Portora Royal School and then emigrated from Ulster to America with his parents in 1819. 

The Gamble family settled in Cincinnati and James was apprenticed as a soapmaker.  He attended Kenyon College and after graduating in 1824 he went into business on his own as a soapmaker.

James married Elizabeth Norris and when William Procter, a candlemaker, married her sister, Olivia Norris, their father-in-law suggested that the two men go into business together.  The firm of Procter & Gamble was formed on 31 October 1837 and by 1859 their annual sales had reached $1m. 

During the Civil War the company supplied the Union Army with soap and candles and this introduced the company's name and products to men from all over the United States.  James Gamble died  on 29 April 1891 and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.

His eldest son James Norris Gamble (1836-1932) worked as a chemist in the company and he is credited with accidentally inventing a floating soap, Ivory Soap, which was the company's first really successful product.

Thompson Brothers

Mark Thompson, the former chair of the Ulster-Scots Agency and a leading activist in the Ulster-Scots community, is one half of a gospel 'brother duet' with his brother Graeme. 

They are known as the Thompson Brothers and their first CD as a duet will ready before Easter.  It will be entitled Soda Farls & Redemption Songs (Hairtsome Hymns fae oor Ulster-Scots Childhood) and will include about 18 tracks, some of them hymns with Ulster roots, some Sacred Scotch Solos and some old brother duet songs.

In the meantime you can hear them sing, along with the Calvary Quartet, in Burnside Orange Hall, near Templepatrick, next Saturday night 20 February.  I am not sure of the time but it is probably 7.30.

Alcohol Abuse (2)

On 1 February I posted some extracts from newspapers about the problem of alcohol abuse in our society.  This afternoon I came across some other newspaper articles from last year on the same theme.

1. The Belfast Telegraph carried an editorial (9 September 2009) entitled 'Serious side of our drink hangover'

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of the binge drinking culture in our society. Indeed ,it is virtually impossible to walk the streets of the towns and cities of Northern Ireland without encountering people who are severely inebriated, often violently so.

Now there is disturbing hard evidence of the extent of criminal behaviour fuelled by alcohol. Almost half of the 10,000 people arrested in the province this year to date had been drinking. and drinking was a factor in 77% of arrests at weekends.

There must be a change of mindset in society. The idea that drinking to excess is normal behaviour or is a requirement to having a good time needs to be challenged.

Measures must be taken to control the sale of alcohol and scale of drinking, especially among young people who are most likely to abuse the substance.  Those measures should include increasing the cost of strong drinks and strictly enforcing age limits in licensed premises and at off-sales outlets.

2. The Irish News (30 October 2009) reported 'Booze-link death sees barmen in court'.  Two barmen in county Tipperary were charged with the unlawful killing of an English tourist who died from acute alcohol intoxication.  The bar manager and a barman worked in the Hayes Hotel in Thurles, better known as the birthplace of the GAA, and the tourist died on 1 July 2008 after celebrating his 26th birthday in the hotel.  He had died after choking on his own vomit and the case sparked debate about the responsibility that pubs and hotels have to their patrons.

3. The Irish Times supplement Health Plus (1 December 2009) reported in a headline that 'Four in 10 women drink excessively'

More than 50 per cent of Irish people are drinking alcohol harmfully, with older people and women especially at risk, research published today has found.

An analysis of data from the 2007 Slan lifestyle study suggests some foru in 10 women are drinking excessively over an extended period, with seven in 10 men also at risk from this pattern of alcohol intake.

4. A news release from the Scottish Government (12 January 2010) reported that alcohol misuse was costing every adult about £900 a year:

Alcohol misuse could be costing Scottish taxpayers around £3.56 billion per year, according to an independent study.
The research, which looked at the impact across the NHS, police, social services, the economy and on families, estimated the total annual cost at between £2.48 billion and £4.64 billion - with a mid-point estimate of £3.56 billion. 
Averaged across the population, the £3.56 billion figure means alcohol misuse could be costing every Scottish adult about £900 per year.

The Bible warns us about the danger of alcohol abuse - 'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise' (Proverbs 20:1) - 'Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine' (Proverbs 23:29.30).

Victory for Belfast boxer

Congratulations to North Belfast boxer Carl Frampton who defeated Yohan Boyeaux in a super-bantamweight bout at York Hall in London last night.  Frampton, who is from Tiger's Bay, has had a great start to his professional career with a series of victories.

He started boxing at an early age and his first competitive bout was at the age of seven in Crusaders FC Social Club.  His amateur career started with the Midland Boxing Club and it ran to 130 bouts with 110 wins.  He won the Irish senior flyweight title in 2005, a silver medal at the 2007 European Union championships, and the 2009 Irish senior featherweight title.

Frampton has now turned professional and his manager Barry McGuigan is convinced that he can become a world chamption.