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17th December 2013 - Hill Shepherds and How They Lived Jack Meikle President Michael Heale welcomed our speaker Jack Meikle who
enthralled his audience with his talk on a way of life long since past.
Jack’s family on both sides had been hill shepherds, his
grandfather having gone to Queensberry Hill in South Ayrshire in the early 1900s
and then in 1913 to Shawlands. He was paid a sum of £26 half yearly and was
allowed to keep two cows, a pig and chickens and had a Clydesdale horse and cart
supplied with the cottage which was in very remote country.
The family grew all their own food making butter,
cheese and scones in place of bread and slaughtering the pig for meat to be
cured.
The
typical journey to school for a child was between three and seven miles each
way, over the hills, often fording small streams which could turn into torrents
in heavy rain. Additional
hazards of the life included snowstorms and adders and even getting a doctor to
attend was often a long and time consuming task requiring a long walk to the
nearest telephone box.
The equipment required to carry out the work included two
good dogs, good boots, clipping stool, shears and a sharpening stone.
The average number of sheep to be tended was twenty
five score with an expectation of nineteen lambs per score.
The next meeting is on 21st January 2014 when
Anne Mathieson will be talking about Mary Fleming.
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