‘What Have The Ulster-Scots Ever Done For Us?’ Airs Sunday, 3 November on BBC Radio Ulster
Date Posted: October 25, 2024
How exactly have Ulster-Scots figures, their language and culture influenced so much of what we in Northern Ireland and beyond know and appreciate?
Jennie Browne and Jane Rea are going to find out – in What Have The Ulster-Scots Ever Done For Us?
What Have The Ulster-Scots Ever Done For Us? is a Sketchy Production for BBC Radio Ulster, with assistance from the Northern Ireland Screen Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund. It begins on Sunday 3 November on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster at 6.30pm.
Jennie Browne, who is half from Northern Ireland and half Caribbean – has always had a fascination with her identity and sense of place. However, she feels there is a large Ulster-Scots shaped hole in her knowledge. So with the guidance of Ulster-Scot Jane Rea, Jennie plans to explore, get her hands dirty and learn about this community.
In the first episode of this six-part series for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster, the pair focus on what the Ulster-Scots have done for… the written word. To discover the answer, they’ll chat with renowned Northern Ireland writers Jan Carson and Michelle Gallen, professional storyteller Billy Teare, and the biographer of criminally underrated writer Ian Cochrane.
Best of all – following a book recommendation from local historian Steve Dornan – our dynamic duo meet up with poets and writers to form an impromptu book group, discussing the work of John Hewitt. Not their fault the best place for that happens to be a pub!
Later in the series, there are visits to The Planetarium in Armagh, The Ulster Aviation Society, a movie quiz featuring Olivia Nash, art and music lessons and tours of The Ulster Museum and The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. There is also a pipe competition in Cookstown, marching practice in Belfast, a physics lecture at Ulster University, and an Ulster-Scots themed banquet up in Bushmills.
