Alan Skeoch

Author: Alan Skeoch

  • EPISODE 620 DEDICATED TO BARNEY DWAN AND W.C. HANDY (EPISODE COMING IS RESULT OF READERS WHO HAVE TOUCHED ME)

    EPISODE 620   THANKS TO TRACEY AND JAMIE DINEEN….MEMORY OF BARNEY DWAN… AND ALSO DAN BOWYER SENT THIS PICTURE OF  W.C.HANDY


    alan skeoch
    august 7, 2022

    Dań Bowyer often takes the episodes a little deeper.  In this case
    he found a great photo of W.C. Handy with his ‘Memphis Blues”
    highlighted. (SEE EPISODE 619)

    image.png

    W.C. HANDY (AB0VE)

    BARNEY DWAN (BELOW)

    “WHAT is that huge thing under our boat, Barney?”
    “Basking shark…harmless.”
    “must be 20 feet long”
    “I think it wants these mackerel, master Skeoch”
    (Why does Barney keep calling  me Master Skeoch?)

    I also received word from Tracey and Jamie Dineen that their grandmaster
    Barney Dwan had passed away.  Barney was my key man in Ireland
    way back in 1960 when we became part of  a team considering the
    reopening of a 19th century copper mine near the village of Bunmahon.

    Barney led me on some great adventures.   Just the kind that 22 year old
    boys/men love.   Before arriving in Bunmahon I saw the movie The Quiet Man
    at a theatre in Dublin.  I recommend readers try and see the movie
    as i write my memorial to Barney Dwan who I called Bandy because
    the Irish spoken on the south  coast did no seem to use the later ‘“r”,
    Every time I asked Barney a question the whole team of ten local
    Irish men burst into laughter.

    Note:
    The strangest thing has happened as a result of writing my Irish episodes.
    People have sent me email letters expressING their joy in remembering
    that magical summer of 1960.  Some will not understand how
    that is possible.  I think you need to be Irish to fully appreciate
    what happened that summer.  

    So I will be writing my memories of a great young Irishman
    in the next episode.  BARNEY DWAN.  Some of  the stories
    were part of previous episodes but they are worth repeating
    because Barney made them happen.

    Hope you can come along for the ride.

    alan 

  • EPISODE 619 DIXIELAND BAND REMINDS US OF THE MUSIC OF W. C. HANDY, BENARES, JULY 4, 2022

    EPISODE 619   DIXIELAND BAND LINKS US TO THE ST. LOUIS BLUES AND W. C. HANDY, BENARES, AUGUST 5, 2022


    Alan skeoch
    august 5, 2022

    JOHN STEVEN (sp?)…led us deep into American music tradition, wiping our slates
    clean…free from the nasty side of populism that we hear too much about today.

    Who could forget W.C.Handy’s original St. Louis Blues…or his Memphic Blues?
    All the music of Dixieland and the Blues is there in  the long time storage part
    of our brains.  On Augst 5, 2022, we were reminded of these chestnuts at the
    Friday concert at Benares, the historic mansion in Mississauga.   Music
    as the summer sun began to slip below the horizon.




    BASIN STREET BLUES


    Lyrics
    Now won’t you come along with me
    To the Mississippi?
    We’ll take a trip to the land of dreams
    Blowing down the river, down to New Orleans
    The band is there to meet us
    Old friends to greet us
    That’s where the line and the dark folks meet
    A heaven on earth, they call it Basin Street
    I said, Basin Street, Basin Street
    Where the elite always meet
    Down in New Orleans, the land of dreams
    You’ll never know how nice it seems
    Or just how much it really means
    Just to be, yes, siree, in New Orleans
    The land of dreams where I can lose
    My Basin Street blues
    Now, you’re glad you came with me
    Down the Mississippi
    We took a trip in a land of dreams
    And floated down the river down to New Orleans
    Where to, Basin Street, Basin Street
    Where the elite always meet
    Down in New Orleans, the land of dreams
    You’ll never know how, how much it seems
    Or just how much it really means
    Just to be, yes, siree, yeah, New Orleans
    The land of dreams where I can lose
    My Basin Street blues
    Source: Musixmatch
    Songwriters: Spencer Williams
    Basin Street Blues lyrics © Campbell Connelly And Co. Ltd.

    John Steven’s deep knowledge of  W. C. Handy made me seek 
    more about Handy when the concert was over…especially when John Steven sang the
    lyrics to Basin Street Blues.
    Now won’t you come along with me
    To the Mississippi?
    We’ll take a trip to the land of dreams
    Blowing down the river, down to New Orleans
    The band is there to meet us
    Old friends to greet us

    WHILE the Basin Street Blues remains part of North American culture there
    is another blues favourite that was written by W.C. Handy who is regarded
    as the father of the blues.  His work in the late 1920’s rescued the music of
    the blues, sung  with feeling by so many black musicians.  W.C.Handy’ s work
    continued even after he had an accidental fall that made him permanently blind.
    Keep him in mind when you read his lyrics to the St. Louis Blues.


    SAINT LOUIS BLUES
    Lyrics
    I hate’s to see dat ev’nin’ sun go down
    Hate’s to see dat ev’nin’ sun go down
    Cause ma baby, she done lef’ dis town
    If I feel tomorrow lak ah feel today
    Feel tomorrow lak ah feel today
    I’ll pack up my trunk, and make ma git away
    Saint Louis woman wid her diamon’ rings
    Pulls dat man ‘roun’ by her apron strings
    ‘Twern’t for powder an’ her store-bought hair
    De man she love wouldn’t gone nowhere, nowhere
    Got dem Saint Louis Blues I’m as blue as ah can be
    Like a man done throwed that rock down into de sea
    Got dem Saint Louis Blues I’m as blue as ah can be

    These lyrics are quite familiar to most of us. The remaining
    lyrics are not familiar to me at all.  They tell a story about 
    specific people in W. C  Handy’s life.  At least I think they
    do.  Some readers of these episodes must know.  Worthwhile to 
    read more about him I think.

    Went to de gypsy get her fortune tole
    To de gypsy, done got her fortune tole
    Cause she most wile ’bout her Jelly Roll
    Now dat gypsy tole her, “Don’t you wear no black”
    She done tole her, “Don’t you wear no black
    Go to Saint Louis, you can win him back”
    If she git toCairo, make Saint Louis by herself
    Git to Cairo, find her old friend Jeff
    Gwine to pin herself, right there, to his side If she flag his train, she sho’ can ride
    And she sang
    Got dem Saint Louis Blues jes as blue as ah can be
    Dat man got a heart lak a rock cast into de sea
    Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me
    Doggone it!
    I loves day man lak a schoolboy loves his pie
    Lak a Kentucky Col’nel loves his mint an’ rye
    I’ll love ma baby till the day ah die
    Now a black-headed gal makes a freight train jump the track
    Said a black-headed gal makes a freight train jump the track
    But a long tall gal makes a preacher ball the jack
    Lawd, a blonde-headed woman make a good man leave the town
    I said a blonde-headed woman make a good man leave the town
    But a red-headed woman make a boy slap his pappy down
    Source: Musixmatch
    Songwriters: W.c. Handy / Spevacek
    St. Louis Blues lyrics © Bucks Music Group Limited





    And then our friend Shaymus Stokes arrived as if the reincarnation of the days when
    Benares was a family home not unlike the mansions of the American south
    where the unrewarded labour of black Americans gave all of us such a rich blues 
    tradition.

    Shaymus arrived dressed for the occasion.   Allowing our imaginations to go
    deeper into the memory cells.




    I hate’s to see dat ev’nin’ sun go down
    Hate’s to see dat ev’nin’ sun go down
    Cause ma baby, she done lef’ dis town
    If I feel tomorrow lak ah feel today
    Feel tomorrow lak ah feel today
    I’ll pack up my trunk, and make ma git away
    Saint Louis woman wid her diamon’ rings
    Pulls dat man ‘roun’ by her apron strings
    ‘Twern’t for powder an’ her store-bought hair
    De man she love wouldn’t gone nowhere, nowhere


    And then the band played Margie….”I’m always thinking of you Margie”, a song
    that brings out that endearing smile of my wife Marjorie…unforgettable.

    Margie
    You’ve been my inspiration
    Days are never blue
    After all is said and done
    There is really only one
    Oh, Margie, Margie, it’s you
    (Fats Domino)



  • EPISODE 615 .THE LITTLE SKEOCH AUTOMOBILE UPDATE ….NEW WALL MURAL update from episode 134, NOv.27, 2018




    EPISODE 615    Skeoch mural in Dalbeattie, SCOTLAND….THE LITTLE SKEOCH AUTOMOBILE, Episode 134 REPEATED


    alan skeoch
    august 3, 2022

    Geoff Allison just sent me this notice about a wall mural in Dalbeattie, Scotland, celebrating
    the manufacture of the 1921 Little Skeoch Car.

    You may remember an earlier story about the Little Skeoch (cited below) 
    but first see the mural using Geoff’s email 




    Dear Skeoch contacts,

    You might be interested is a vlog which was posted this week about a mural in Dalbeattie about the Skeoch Cycle Car see https://www.dgwgo.com/community-focus/mural-commemorate-james-b-skeochs-utility-cycle-car-commissioned-dalbeattie/
    Kind regards,
    Geoff







    EPISODE 134:  ONCE UPON A  TIME THERE WAS  A MOTOR CAR CALLED  THE LITTLE SKEOCH

    (also called  The Skeoch Motorcycle  Car)

    alan  skeoch
    Nov. 27. 2018

         REVISED OCT. 2020 (slightly)

    It has  now been  two years since I touched base with the men rebuilding The Litle Skeoch Motor Car

    in Scotland.  It is a daunting task.  We had planned on a  visit to their workshop but sad events
    got in the way…and  Covid 19 makes such visits difficult today.  How the world has changed.
    Maybe I can get a progress report from Scotland.  Meanwhile I feel this story should be part
    of the Episodes (#134) just in case it gets lost.

    alan


    Maybe we should bring back the LITTLE SKEOCH MOTOR CAR.   It was small,, cheap and  simple…sort of  a  4 wheel bicycle  seating two people with a chain drive and  small

    motorcycle  engine.  So small that only two very slim people could  ride in it since the

    car was  only 31 inches  wide and a  little over 8 feet long.  

    Some of  you may think this  is some kind  of joke.  Wrong.  In 1920, James Skeoch built his first Little Skeoch, then entered it in a Scottish auto show and sold it
    in ten minutes.   All  told less than a dozen Little Skeoch’s  were built in his small factory.  Ten  were quickly purchased at that auto show. Price?  180 pounds…which was the cheapest car in the show.  None have survived.   Sadly in 1921 a fire  consumed  his little factory and as  a  result the Burnside Motor Company in Dalbeattie,  Scotland, ceased to exist.




    Skeoch utility car




    The original Skeoch Utility Car.


    Skeoch Utility car advertisement






    Burnside Motorworks

    Pictures of the Skeoch production line were retrieved from Skeoch  family albums.   Not exactly an automated  factory.
    But the LITTLE SKEOCHS were real mini cars and seemed about to make a big splash in the booming car market of the 1920’s
    until  fire ended  the enterprise.  Everything became a  blackened  pile  of scrap  iron.

    James Skeoch moved on.   His skills were valued.  He had a  long successful career and  died  in 1954.
    Not many people, by 1954, were even  aware that there was  such a  car as the SKEOCH.   Memories are short especially since 
    none of the Little Skeochs  survived.   Gone  Gone Gone.    

    Well, not quite.

    POSSIBLE REBIRTH OF THE LITTLE SKEOCH

    HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON THE WALL

    HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD  A GREAT FALL
    ALL THE KING’S HORSES
    AND ALL THE KING’S MEN
    COULDN’T PUT HUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN.

    …Then  along came GEORGE ALLISON and his men from Dalbeattie, Scotland…who
    plan to put Humpty togehter again.




    P.S.   BELOW IS AN ARICLE  ON THE SKEOCH MOTOR CAR WRITTEN
    FOR BBC  SCOTLAND NEWS ,  Feb. 27, 2018

    Drive to rebuild ‘forgotten’ early car

    By Nichola Rutherford
    BBC Scotland News

    Published
    27 February 2018

    IMAGE COPYRIGHTDALBEATTIE MUSEUM
    image captionThe Skeoch Utility Car was built using parts normally used to manufacture motorcycles
    When James Skeoch designed and built one of Scotland’s firstaffordable cars, he must have dreamed of huge success. 
    With a price-tag of just £180, the first Skeoch Utility Car was the cheapest on display at the Scottish Motor Show in 1921. 
    It sold within 10 minutes and a further nine were quickly snapped up by customers keen to join the automobile revolution. 
    But within months Skeoch’s business was in ruins. His uninsured workshop in Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway, burned to the ground. 
    Since then the Skeoch Utility Car has been largely forgotten by all but keen historians of Scotland’s motor industry. 
    Now, almost 100 years later, plans are are being drawn up to recreate the so-called “cycle car” in the town where it was manufactured. 

    IMAGE COPYRIGHTDALBEATTIE MUSEUM
    image captionThe Skeoch car was the cheapest on show at the Scottish Motor Show in 1921 and apparently sold within 10 minutes
    The ambitious project has been taken on by a group of mainly retired local men, known as Dalbeattie Men’s Shed. 
    Using some of the original parts and working from the original drawings, they hope to build a working Skeoch car in time to mark its centenary. 
    Motoring enthusiast Martin Shelley approached the Men’s Shed with the idea for the project after reading about the group on the BBC Scotland website last year. 

    IMAGE COPYRIGHTDALBEATTIE MUSEUM
    image captionBurnside Motor Works in Dalbeattie, where the Skeoch was manufactured, was devastated by fire in December 1921
    The group, which meets in a workshop in Dalbeattie twice a week, was named Shed of the Year for its efforts to “help as many local people as possible”.
    “Using the Dalbeattie Men’s Shed’s energy, enthusiasm and skills to recreate the car seemed like a match made in heaven,” Mr Shelley said.
    He said “cycle cars” were first invented in the early 1900s and they got their name after using motorcycle engines and wheels. 
    They became increasingly popular after World War One, when soldiers returned home from the front line, having become used to driving. 
    Skeoch radiator badgeichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/4D35/production/_100156791_skeochbadge.jpg 320w, ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4D35/production/_100156791_skeochbadge.jpg 480w, ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/4D35/production/_100156791_skeochbadge.jpg 624w, ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/4D35/production/_100156791_skeochbadge.jpg 800w” src=”https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/4D35/production/_100156791_skeochbadge.jpg” width=”976″ height=”549″ loading=”lazy” class=”css-evoj7m-Image ee0ct7c0″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 800px; height: 450px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; inset: 0px; -webkit-box-pack: center; justify-content: center; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; object-fit: cover;”>
    image captionThe Skeoch radiator badge was among the original parts found in the home of Mr Skeoch’s son following his death last year

    image captionDalbeattie Men’s Shed have also been given an original engine and gearbox with which to build a Skeoch car
    Mr Shelley said: “After World War One, the ordinary working man was much more used to the idea of riding a motorcycle or driving a car so they knew about the technology and now they wanted to try and build their own cars. 
    “In the early 20s, there was a huge flowering of people making these cars. As it turned out, Skeoch in Dalbeattie were the only people in Scotland to ever attempt to make these things commercially.”
    The original drawings and parts – including the radiator badge – were found in the Wishaw home of Ron Skeoch, James Skeoch’s son, after he died last year. 
    Mr Shelley said he hoped they could be used to capture the “spirit” of the 1920s vehicle. 
    “You could make a replica of the car which would pass muster, using a modern engine and a modern gear box and using modern parts. But the spirit of the car is very much based on the parts that were available in 1920,” he said. 
    “This project will be very like the original car and that to me is what the joy of the whole thing is.”

    image captionFiona Sinclair hopes to be able to sit in one of her grandfather’s cars

    image caption“It’s going to be something for posterity,” said Geoff Allison of Dalbeattie Men’s Shed
    The granddaughter of James Skeoch, Fiona Sinclair, is also involved in the project. 
    She never knew her grandfather – he died in 1954 – but she hopes that her mother – Skeoch’s daughter – will get the chance to ride in one his cars.
    “I think it’s going to mean a lot to my family,” she said. “It’s tragic that the fire put an end to his ambition. 
    “I’m actually rather hoping I can physically get to sit in the car, I’m not quite sure I could be trusted with driving it. 
    “It’s only got two gears apparently but I think it would be rather wonderful. What I really hope is that my mother gets the opportunity to actually sit in the car as well.” 
    The project is “immensely exciting”, said Geoff Allison, the secretary of the Dalbeattie Men’s Shed, which has members with engineering and mechanical skills. 
    “It’s engineering-rich, it’s Dalbeattie-rich, it’s community-rich, it fills so many of our requirements,” he added. 
    “It’s big, it’s going to be eye-catching, it’s going to be something for posterity. It’s got a lot to recommend it.”

  • : EPISODE 623 ASNWER TO “WHY Ontario barns had wheels” (Thanks to Robert Root)


    EPISODE 623     “WHY ONTARIO BARNS HAD WHEELS?”   ROBERT ROOT ANSWERS


    alan skeoch
    july 2022

    Most Ontario barns also had wheels high up on the high beams.  Why ?
    This was time when barns also used teams of horses , lots of long ropes,  pulleys attached 
    to the floor and lots of two and three pronged forks.  About now, end of July, those wheels were moving
    as were the horses, ropes and pulleys….and the pitch forks..   Why?


    This is BoB Root, who I call “Rooter” for no particular reason other than friendship.  Our life paths
    have crossed many times.  He has answered my questions about the rack lifters in detail.
    And even sent  a note about another method of getting loose cut hay into hay mows on
    either side of the threshing floor of Ontario barns.  Both methods were a lot of work.  But
    hay had to be stored as winter feed.

    MY MEMORY IS FAULTY.  I THINK UNCLE FRANK USED THE HAY CAR METHOD
    DESCRIBED BY BOB ROOT RATHER THAN THE HAY RACK METHOD.  I HOPE TED
    FREEMAN WILL CORECT ME. S BOTH METODS ARE DESCRIBED BY BOB.


    Hi Alan,

    Those wheels were used as rack lifters.  The wagon load of loose hay or straw would be pulled up by the team of horses 
    so that the load would be positioned under the  wheel assemblies.  
    Ropes would be attached to the wagon rack and the axles of the wheel assembly.  
    Horses would then pull on the ropes around the wheels and the wagon rack would be lifted off the wagon frame and 
    raised to the level of the haymow where the farmer could fork the load off of the wagon rack and into the haymow.  
    The unloaded rack would then be lowered back onto the wagon frame where it could return to the field for another load.  
    This was all a lot of work in the days before hay balers and elevators were invented.

    MY UNCLE FRANK FREEMAN AND HIS WIFE LUCINDA
    (Cousin Ted Freeman had  grown up  when this picture was taken)

    Of all my farm relatives, Uncle Frank and Aunt Lucinda Freeman worked the hardest and got the least
    reward for their labour  That is my opinion.  They would never say this.  I am not sure if cousin
    Ted would agree.   Their farm was in a nest of hills that drained into a large pond that was dead 
    centre.  Tough land.  Lots of stones and lots of danger.  I spent a lot of time with them, more
    than with any of our legions of Skeoch farms around Fergus.  I never appreciated how hard they
    had to work to make a living until they were gone.


    This picture of them at rest  is inappropriate because they never had
    much time for rest since they had to squease an income from the piles 
    of glacial till left for them 10,000 years ago when the Laurentian ice sheet
    melted.  

    Bob Root has explained the rack lifting system.  

    Hi Alan,

    Those wheels were used as rack lifters.  The wagon load of loose hay or straw would be pulled up by the team of horses 
    so that the load would be positioned under the  wheel assemblies.  
    Ropes would be attached to the wagon rack and the axles of the wheel assembly.  
    Horses would then pull on the ropes around the wheels and the wagon rack would be lifted off the wagon frame and 
    raised to the level of the haymow where the farmer could fork the load off of the wagon rack and into the haymow.  
    The unloaded rack would then be lowered back onto the wagon frame where it could return to the field for another load.  
    This was all a lot of work in the days before hay balers and elevators were invented.


    This is what a hay wagon would look like when driven into the barn…only this
    is a load of sheaves of wheat being fed into a threshing machine by cousin Eleanor and her
    husband James Calder other Bellwood farm.







    Robert Root 

    “On our farm we didn’t use this method but the Awrey farm across the road from us did.”

    “On our farm we used a hayfork system.  The loaded wagon was pulled up onto the driving floor and the large hayfork was plunged into the load of hay.  Horses with a rope attached would then walk out the gangway pulling the rope behind them and this would lift the hayfork loaded with a large bundle of hay up to the roof level where a 4 wheeled trolley ran along a track and it could carry the hayfork forward or backwards and also sideways into various mows.  At the desired location the jaws of the fork would be opened and the bundle of hay or straw would be released and fall down into the mow.  By the time I was a kid the horses were replaced by a tractor which pulled the long rope up and down the gangway. I remember one day that my cousin Ken and I were sitting in the sand playing at the base of the gangway and the rear tire of the tractor ran over Ken’s outstretched legs as it pulled the rope to lift the hayfork.

    This whole process was very dusty and so when balers became available we quit the hayfork business but the hayfork track always remained hanging from the inside peak of the barn roof.” 

    “Rooter….how much hay would 1cow need for winter…or a horse…miscalculation = starvation…I wonder how farmers made this calculation””
    “Trial and error, Alan, If it looked like the farm was going to run out of hay then a couple of animals would have to be butchered.”






  • EPISODE 622 ZINNIAS CAN OUTRACE THE WEEDS august 2, 2022

    EPISODE 622    ZINNIAS CAN OUTRACE THE WEEDS


    alan skeoch

    August 2, 2022




    The Dundurn Kitchen Garden is terrific.   Helped along by gardeners who diligently fight the
    weeds wheeling them to the compost heap.  Marjorie and I are not that lucky. The weeds get ahead of us
    and defeat us.   And that is why we love our zinnias.  They now how to outrace the weeds to find sunshine.

















    Dundurn has nice clear footpaths.  We do not.








    Did you notice?  No weeds insight.  Why?   Because a team of gardeners in full costume
    of the 1830’s spend their waking hours searching and then thumping weeds to death
    with sharpened hoes.

    On our farm in Erin Township, Wellington County we always lose our race with weeds.
    This year we gave up the battle and decided to let the zinnias fight  the weeds.
    We expected defeat but have been astounded to discover that zinnias can outrun weeds in
    the race to get sunlight.


    No big deal.  Finding victory in defeat.

    Speaking of victory here below is another picture of our elephant ear.   Thriving on a
    cold winter day in a farmhouse that is cool enough that our grand daughter Nolan feels
    the need to wear a winter coat.  That is one tough elephant ear.  So tough that we have
    given it a permanent window.