Charles Tait (Redirected by Sigurd Towrie ) wrote: >So the truth is finally out - it was the Stromnessians who did for the >last of the trees in Orkney! Seriously I doubt the game "died out" >without substantial encouragement from the "powers that be". Woe betide >any such who try in Kirkwall. The game is hard fought but fairly and >the players are very good at avoiding each other serious injury. Just >the occasional broken rib, collar bone, even leg (heard the crack). > > I have extracted a couple of paragraphs from Ex-Provost G.S. Robertson's "History of Stromness 1900-1972" - "Yule Log. Each Christmas Eve there was the contest of the Yule Log on the streets between the Northenders and the Southenders. It is not known if the original was a real log, but in this century, it was a tree. You would be wrong to conclude that a public spirited person donated a tree for this melee, for the facts were very different. Under conver of darkness, the selected tree was mainly sawn across, to permit of a quick get-away on the vital night. It is recorded that the Reverend James Christie stood guard on his precious trees on the occasion, and doubtless, others were doing likewise. With ropes attached to the tree, the streets were soon strewn with broken branches as the tree advanced south or north towards the goals - Ma Humphs (Alfred Square - MCC) for the southenders and the Pier for the Northenders. This game mercifully ceased about 1930 for our trees could not sustain the loss of one per annum, ad infinitum." "Youths' and Men's Ba's. On Christmas and New Year's Day, there were two Ba's - the Youths' at 11 a.m. and the Men's at 2 p.m. the latter attracted a large crowd, and provided a needed episode in the dark, drab days. Persons from all walks of life took part in the tussle, suitably dressed for the occasion. A diversion occurred when the ba' emerged from the crowd at a close-end, and the person in possession aimed to carry it to a point south or north of the contest. The most famous was the occasion when deaf Tommy Clouston escaped north, with the crowd in pursuit. Reaching the pier, he clibed the rigging of the schooner *Minnie*, and descending, threw the ba' into the basin, and along with others dived in to recover it. On one occasion, he is credited with swimming with the Ba' from the basin to his own pier below the Commercial Hotel. As Guilio Fugaccia had provided a large plate glass window in his shop at 41 Victoria Street (between the Post Office and Brown's Hostel - MCC), it was considered too risky to permit ba' play, and the games were terminated in the late 20s." I have a cousin in the Orkney Police - he tells me that many a score is settled "amicably" during the ba' in Kirkwall with a few well-delivered punches! <remainder of Charles' post snipped>

On 10/12/03 at 11:37 Mike Clouston wrote: >This game mercifully ceased about 1930 for our trees could >not sustain the loss of one per annum, ad infinitum." If memory serves correct the Stromness game was stopped following protests by local merchants/businesses, afraid for their windows. -- Sigurd Towrie Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com