The Blood Is Strong.

[sr3nitygirl]

Recently, I was researching the story of Calum MacLeòid or Raasay, and in particular the story of the road he built to his croft in South Arnish.

The led me to dig out an old VHS tape I have of a program called "The Blood Is Strong", a program made by Grampian TV for Channel 4 in 1988. I transcoded it from the VHS tape to a digital form to make it easier to watch (I have a VHS system that can handle NTSC, PAL, and SECAM).

There is a segment of the program about Calum; not just about his road, but also about The Clearances on Raasay. Calum was able to recite his own grandfathers testimony to the Napier Commission.

The program itself tells the story of the Clearances and the dispersal of the people all over the world, and the decline of the Gaelic culture in Scotland. It's almost depressing the watch, but I am glad I rediscovered it, as it just makes me more determined to succeed in my own studies of the language.

Here are a couple of segments:

Clearances on Skye & Sutherland: http://youtu.be/vaLh1oIyjSM

More on Sutherland, Battle of the Braes, Calum MacLeòid of Raasay: http://youtu.be/rloff3Xt-_A

[Aibhlinn]

This was a fantastic series and I saw it once as a teenager in 1988 when first broadcast on Scottish Televison, and have been trying to find footage of it for the last couple of decades so i could share it with my American wife.
For your information, here's some official details that I've been able to accumulate in recent years:

1. It Is No Joy Without Clan Donald (1/9/88) - Traces the early history of the Gaelic Scots, a people who developed a separate language and culture in the West Highlands of Scotland, and tells of the events which drove so many from their homeland to seek a better way of life. It charts the fall of the Lordship of the Isles, the breakup of the clan system after the battle of Culloden in 1746, the famine and the notorious Highland Clearances

2. All That Is Able Is Going To America (8/9/88) - Second in the three part series tracing the history of the Gaelic Scots. The Carolinas became the magnet for thousands of Gaelic Scots in the years after Culloden. Later the American War of Independence was to divert the overspill of Highlanders to Canada, while more settled in Australia and New Zealand. The programme explains how these refugees fared and how the traditional Gaelic language and culture survives today in places as far apart as Winnipeg, Canada and Waipu, New Zealand

3. A Stirring In The Gaidhealtachd (15/9/88) - Last in the three part documentary series on the history, language and culture of the Gaels of the Hebrides. Probes the psyche of the Gael, as modern technology combines with a revival in crofting, to give the Gaidhealtachd perhaps its most encouraging economic scenario for decades. But it is a land of contrast, with Britain's highest per capita number of university graduates and its most regular church attendance, but with one of its most serious alcohol problems. Is simple economic improvement enough for a people whose morale has been progressively undermined for two centuries? To many, the question is not whether the Gael will survive in his homeland, but what kind of Gael will survive.

Which of the videos (there were three, one for each) have you got?

[bergqvistjl]

I've looked on Amazon and found something quite strange:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... rong%20vhs

There are the 3 TV episodes with more or less the same title on there, on a single VHS each, but also 3 other VHS's which look like they were produced by the same team, yet have different titles (The Sea Kingdom, The Heartland Of The Gael and Hebridean Dreamers). I've contacted what is now STV to see if they can shed any light on it, but i'm wondering if they may have been VHS exclusives perhaps?

[Níall Beag]

Perhaps they've just been retitled to appeal more to consumers? Episode 1 was about a "sea kingdom" and the last episode was certainly about the heartlands. Video exclusives in Gaelic? I don't think there was ever enough of a market for that.

[bergqvistjl]

Could be. I know BBC Alba has aired the 3 episodes dubbed into gaelic, but doesn't give them individual titles, just "Episode 1", "Episode 2" etc.

[bergqvistjl]

I got this information/scene breakdown from STV's Database:

(ORIGINAL REC. 23.04.88 - EX 1") - PART 1 OF 3 - DOCUMENTARY ON GAELIC HISTORY - HIGHLAND CLEARANCES AFTER CULLODEN - HISTORY OF SCOTS IN AMERICA - ARMADALE CASTLE ON SKYE (CLAN DONALD), CALLANISH STONES, IONA, LORD MACDONALD, CULLODEN, DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.

(ORIGINAL REC. 26.06.88 - EX 1") - PART 2 OF 3 - DOCUMENTARY ON GAELIC HISTORY - HIGHLAND CLEARANCES AFTER CULLODEN - HISTORY OF SCOTS IN AMERICA - CANADA & AUSTRALIA - RUNRIG PLAYING -SCENICS OF NORTH CAROLINA IN USA - GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN HIGHLAND GAMES & CLAN GATHERING - GVS WINNIPEG CITY CENTRE IN CANADA + TORONTO (NARATED BY ANGUS PETER CAMPBELL - MUSIC BY CAPERCAILLIE)

(ORIGINAL REC. 25.04.88 - EX 1") PART 3 OF 3 - DOCUMENTARY ON GAELIC HISTORY ON HIGHLAND CLEARANCES AFTER CULLODEN - PEAT DIGGING & SPINNING WHEEL IN WESTERN ISLES + REMOTE HOUSING & CROFTS IN WESTERN ISLES INCLUDING SLEAT ON SKYE & PRIMARY SCHOOL - SIR IAN NOBLE - ELLIS MACDONALD OF CLAN DONALD CENTRE ON SKYE - B/W ARCHIVE OF ST KILDA CLEARANCES - SALMON FISH FARMING - DEER STALKING - CROFTING - NORMAN MACLEAN IN CONCERT - IAIN CRICHTON SMITH (WRITER) - ROBERT COWAN (H&I DEV BOARD) - LOTS OF AERIAL GVS OF W.I.

This is what the person said about the VHS releases: "I'm sorry I'm not sure about the sell-through products but we only made 3 episodes in connection with Channel 4."