A fascinating insight into the lives of Scottish Borders folk in the last century comes to Scran.

This series of interviews and sound recordings collected by local historian, retired teacher and author, Ian Landles, between the 1960s and 2010 was originally started in order to preserve the memories of local men who had fought in World War One and is a great complement to existing material on Scran about the conflict. However, the archive also offers a rich seam of oral testimonies from local women as well as men and covers themes including the Hawick Common Riding, poetry and music, farming life and mill life and the original Border railways. Many of the interviewees speak in the local dialect of Border Scots known as ‘Teri Talk’ which gives the recordings great linguistic significance.

The collection of 150 tapes was donated to the Scottish Borders Council Archives at the Heritage Hub in Hawick by Ian Landles in 2014. Digitisation of the interviews was carried out by Tobar an Dualchais with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Ian Landles Collection is also being made available through Scran in the form of segmented interviews with full summaries. Some transcripts are also available. Interviewees who talk about their life in the Scottish Borders include:

• Jane Stewart (b.1881), a former mill worker
• Meg Wilson (b.1893), a former domestic servant and shepherd’s wife
• Jimmy Scott (b.1895), a retired police constable
• Jock Scott (b.1900), a retired railwayman
• Jimmy Gray (b.1928), a retired railwayman

There will be regular new uploads to the site from the collection so do keep your eye out. We’ll keep you posted from our end.

Image © Scottish Motor Museum Trust, Alvis 1920s. Licensor www.scran.ac.uk