Dè a thog d' ùidh anns a' chuspair agad? - Margaret Bennett

Dearbh-aithne: AB_SGI_02_MARGARET_BENNETT_Q_02 TUAIRISGEUL: Mar phàirt de Thilleadh Dhachaigh 2009, chaidh co-labhairt eadar-nàiseanta trì latha - Buaidh Chruinneil na h-Alba - a chumail ann an Taigh-chluiche Eden Court, Inbhir Nis, bho 22-24 Dàmhair. Thàinig sgoilearan, eachdraichean is eòlaichean eile còmhla gus deasbaireachd fhallain a bhrosnachadh mu eachdraidh imrich agus a' bhuaidh a bha aig muinntir na h-Alba thall-thairis. Rinn Am Baile agallamhan le grunn luchd-labhairt rè na co-labhairt. San earrainn chlaistinnich seo, tha an Dr Margaret Bennett a' freagairt na ceiste: "Dè a thog d' ùidh anns a' chuspair shònraichte agad fhèin?" 'My father emigrated to Canada when I was about, I was eighteen, I think, and away he went, and my mother stayed behind, and she got a flat in Glasgow because my sisters and I were all students or - nursing students were two of us and teaching students for the other two - and she stayed there. And then, when I was nineteen, I decided I'd visit him and, he was in Newfoundland, but in a quite a remote part; there was a hundred and ten miles of dirt road into the place that he lived, a place called Marystown. He was building a fish plant and he lived in a construction camp; there was thirteen trailers, they were thirty foot long. And so I went out to visit him, and apart from - I've never lived in such a sort of situation before. People called me Mr Bennett's little girl; I wasn't used to that but that was alright. And there was no - they were quite near a community - there was no electricity, the adjacent village had no electricity, and I saw, gosh me, a way of life that I had only really imagined existed maybe at the turn of the twentieth century where people really were quite poor. Not poor like I'd seen in Scotland, occasionally, but they had lived very subsistence way of life. They were fishermen but they were, they had definitely fallen on hard times; I saw children wearing clothes that were made out of flour bags and, you know, they'd have 'Cream of the West' written on the back and 'Aunt Jemima's Pancakes' on the front, and I remember my father, who was a smoker then, finished his cigarette and he rolled down the window and threw the butt out and there was a scramble for the cigarette butt. And I was amazed and also the children came up without any kind of embarrassment or self-consciousness, and they stared in the window at us, and it was as if we'd landed from - I better not say outer space - this was a little place called Spanish Room; it was eventually resettled. Anyhow, that was all part of an experience. That, and, discovering that there was a folklore department at the university in St Johns - the main university. A folklore department, which had just begun, and they were just beginning to collect songs from what they call the outports. Now that was certainly an outport. I mean, a hundred and ten miles of dirt road down to the place. And so I, I was in St Johns with my father, and I decided to go and visit this place, this folklore department, and although I knew about the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh, I had absolutely no idea, though I was Scottish and I'd been a student in Glasgow, no idea that there was any access to this place. My mother had recorded for them - I knew there was tapes in there - but that was it. However, this place had just begun, and somehow it was, the door seemed to be open much wider, and so when I found out what they were doing, they were recruiting students who were interested in folklore. So I thought, 'Well. Gosh. Sounds like a cushy number to me.' And yes, I suppose I'll admit that I wasn't looking for some hard work, I can tell you, I was looking for something that would really interest me. I'd done alright at college, I suppose, but, you know, teacher training, and I'd enjoyed it. I'd enjoyed it immensely, but I didn't feel really stretched. And I love teaching; I love being in schools, I love being with young people, so I wasn't, it's not as if I was about to launch on a career that I'd dislike, and I wouldn't have made a, you know, a rotten teacher who wasn't going to like this. I'd have loved it. But there was just something I longed to do to make me feel stretched, if that makes any sense. So, I went back to university when I - I graduated in Glasgow and then went back out - and within a year I'd finished the, the basic degree requirements, then went, I applied to do a postgraduate degree, and I got a scholarship, I suppose based on my reasonably good academic performance but mostly, I would say, on my enthusiasm, yes.' EACHDRAIDH-BEATHA Thogadh an Dtr Mairead Bennett air an Eilean Sgitheanach, ann an Leòdhas agus ann an Sealtainn. Rinn i às-imrich a Chanada ann an 1967 mar oileanach iar-cheumnach ann an Dualchas aig Oilthigh Cuimhneachail Newfoundland. Ann an 1975 's i an Neach-dualchais aig Pròiseact Quebec-Innse Ghall aig Taigh-tasgaidh a' Civilisation, a' tilleadh a dh'Alba ann an 1976. Bho 1984 bha i na h-òraidiche aig Oilthigh Dhùin Èidinn, a' clàradh eachdraidh air aithris agus traidiseanan Albannach aig an taigh agus thall thairis. Tha i a-nis pàirt-ùine aig Acadamaidh Rìoghail Alba de Cheòl is Dràma agus am measg a leabhraichean tha 'Scottish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave' (1992) agus dà sgrùdadh, a choisinn duaisean, air traidiseanan an luchd-às-imrich, 'The Last Stronghold: Scottish Gaelic Traditions in Newfoundland' (1989) agus 'Oatmeal and the Catechism: Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec' (1999). Tha i air a bhith ann an grunnan chlàran CD, tha i air seinn aig fèisean eadar-nàiseanta agus air cur ri grunnan riochdachaidhean thaigh-cluiche. Ann an 1998 fhuair i Duais a' 'Master Music Maker' a' comharrachadh fad beatha de dh'obair-chiùil agus theagaisg, agus ann an 2003, fhuair i Duais Eadar-nàiseanta nam Boireannaich Ceilteach airson 'lifelong service to Scottish Culture'. Airson An Tilleadh Albannach 2009 dh'fhoillsich i leabhar le CD dùbailte de dh'òrain a' sgaoileadh thar trì linntean, 'Dìleab Ailean-A Newfoundland Homecoming Cèilidh' (Grace Note Publications). ÀITE: Inbhir Nis SIORRACHD/PARRAIST: INBHIR NIS: Inbhir Nis 's Am Bànath DEIT: 2009 LINN: 2000an NEACH-FIOSRACHAIDH: Am Baile CRUINNEACHADH: Scotland's Global Impact ID Maoin: 41012 KEYWORDS_GAELIC:

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