THE SUMMER WALKERS & RATHAD NAN CEARD: TIMOTHY NEAT with Norman Maclean
Martha Mackenzie of Fortinghall 1976
The Summer Walkers
Hamish Henderson recording Ailidh Dall, 1957
Hamish Henderson, the year he died, 2002
Two seminal films introduced by their Director Timothy Neat. He will be joined by one of Gaeldom’s most famous names, Norman Maclean, who appears in both.
THE SUMMER WALKERS from 1976 (53 mins) is a documentary about the Travelling People and Pearl Fishers in the Highlands of Scotland which was made with the folklorist Hamish Henderson. The Summer Walkers is the name the crofters of Scotland’s north-west Highlands gave the Travelling People – the itinerant tinsmiths, horse-dealers, hawkers and pearl fishers who made their living ‘on the road’. They are not gypsies, but indigenous Gaelic-speaking Scots, who, to this day, remain heirs to a vital and ancient culture. The Summer Walkers documents an archetypal and vanishing way of life.
‘Rathad nan Ceard’, 1994, (30mins) is a documentary about the Highland Travelling People in Scottish Gaelic, with sub-titles. The film retraces the journey Hamish Henderson made with renowned Gaelic comedian, writer and piper, Norman Maclean, to meet the Stewarts of Remarstaig (the Summer Walkers), the last Gaelic speaking nomads of Scotland.
Self Portrait from ‘These Faces – Photographs and Drawings by Timothy Neat (1947-2013)’
Timothy Neat is a writer, film maker, photographer, teacher and art historian. Brought up in North Cornwall, after an Honours Degree in Fine Art at Leeds University he moved to Scotland in 1968 (home of his maternal ancestors) to take up a teaching post at Lendrick Muir School, Perthshire (a residential school for Maladjusted Children of High Intelligence).
Throughout his career he has explored the work of major historical figures like Burns, Mackintosh and MacDiarmid and had creative collaboration with outstanding modernists like Hamish Henderson, Sorley MacLean, Ian Hamilton Finlay and John Berger. He has also worked with Scotland’s Travelling People, on the Bardic Traditions of the Highlands and Islands (with John Macinnes) and been influential as a teacher and cultural activist on Contemporary Art in Scotland.
From 1970-73 he lectured in the History of Art at Plymouth College of Art and Design, and from 1973-89, at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee. Since 1989 he has worked as an independent filmmaker and author from his home in North Fife. He has published 9 books and 11 major films, many of which have won significant awards.
Norman Maclean
FOOTNOTE: –
Timothy also introduced Norman Maclean to Jamie Chambers whose 15 minute short Second Sight was shown at Faclan in 2011. Chambers’ full length feature Blackbird has since been shortlisted at the Edinburgh Film Festival 2013 and will be shown at An Lanntair on Wednesday 20th November. Appearing along with Jamie will be cast members Norman Maclean, Margaret Bennett and Sheila Stewart.