Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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JO GRIMOND, the Liberal Party leader from 1956 to 1967, was asked to give the name of his nearest railway station on a form for parliamentary expenses — or so the story goes. Being the MP for Orkney and Shetland, he reportedly wrote “Bergen, Norway.”
Norway’s imperial control of parts of Scotland waned after the inconclusive battle of Largs in 1263, after which King Haakon retreated to Orkney — which, along with Shetland, remained under Norwegian sovereignty until 1468.
But that was not the end of the affinity felt with Scandinavia north of the border. Many Scots words still in common usage — such as bairn and midden — derive from Old Norse. And more recently Scottish crime writers and screenwriters have placed themselves in the tradition of Nordic noir rather than the English golden age of fictional murder.
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