Gayle Ross and the Trail Of Tears

Gayle Ross is a living example of family heritage and how story’s travel down through families. She started this session by explaining her familial connection to Chief John Ross, leader of the Cherokee people at the time they were forced off the land and made to travel to what is now the state of Oklahoma. We hear of her family and the grandmother and mother that nurtured her in the role of custodian of family lore. A powerful performance that tells of the mistreatment of Cherokee people from a deeply personal perspective, Gayle puts her heart and soul into it. A hugely moving performance. An evening performance with local Chuck Warren (a member of the Little River Band of Native Americans ) followed and the two traded trickster and rabbit stories.

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes and Seoras MacPherson

On the opening night we had the opportunity to meet with some of the other storytellers with a drinks and welcome session at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, this was followed by a concert in the Theatre entitled “A hundred Thousand Welcomes” and was stories, songs and music with local tellers Heather Yule, playing harp, David Campell MC and sentimental favourite George McPherson who continued the night at our apartment with a wee dram or two of very fine single malt whisky and dozens more stories.

George or his correct Gaelic name Seoras is a bonafide Senachie, that is he was trained in the role of storyteller. At the age of three his grandfather put him on his knee and started to teach him the stories and lore of his people. The second night he visited our apartment and told us a story of Finn McCool it was almost electric. For me it was like he was telling stories of his relations like he might look at an old and ancient photo album and relate this and that person’s stories. It felt more immediate than I’ve ever heard a celtic story told. Wonderful.

A rainbow of Storytellers sharing an apartment

Arrived Thursday night and moved into the Knights Apartment with fellow storytellers, Gayle Ross Cherokee Storyteller. (http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/bibs/ross.htm Amina Blackwood Meeks, a Jamaican Born Caribbean National Storyteller (http://www.aminablackwoodmeeks.com/ )and Anne E Stewart from Australia ( http://www.anneestewart.com.au )

The Festival Begins

The Scottish International Storytelling Festival October 23rd to November 1st 2009

Maid Marion

Stayed with Storyteller, Musician, Dancer Marion Kenny (who I had met when she came to the WA Storytelling Conference) Wined and dined toured and listened to her play music with a few friends. We visited the border region and the coast and walked along the beach talking stories.

Kidd family Ancestry

My Dad Noel John Stewart ( Son of Jack Kidd Stewart) always said we were related to Captain Kidd the pirate but I always thought he was just spinning a yarn. But a cousin passed on some family history to me before my trip to Scotland and I now realise it might be the one bit of family history handed down that dates back to our ancestors in Scotland. According to my cousin Sally,

“The Kidd family is said to derive from northern Scandinavia. Spellings variations include Kid, Kyd, Kedd, Keed, Cydd, Cyd and others. Not technically part of the Scottish clan system which was basically a highland phenomenon - though references of it being a sept (a family) of one of the clans can be found in various sources with a commercial motive.. They were part of the lowland populations and originally settled in East Lothian on the eastern seaboard of modern-day Scotland.They are seated in Dundee in the Scottish Shire of Angus which is north of Fife and Edinburgh, half way up the eastern coastline. Dundee is a seaport.

The first Kidd which can be traced back to our family is David Kid who was born about 1645. He married Susanna Allan on 2 November in 1666. Three and half years following they married, they had their first child, a son, John Kidd on 21 May 1670, also in Monimail. The first name ‘John’ was used in the family for the next 11 generations including the latest, Stuart John Gibson in 1963.

I visited this area and felt and home in this Kingdom by the sea

Jess and Davey Smith in Crieff