CHATTERBOX - Lochwinnoch

From the Parish Church
Are you searching for the spirit of
Lochwinnoch?
Have you looked in sky above and earth
below?
Was it sparkling in the river? Did it whistle
through the trees?
Did it come to you in birdsong, or the buzzing
of the bees?
Oh, I’m sure it did; I know it did, it breathed
through all of these ...
But as soon as you had found it, it went flying
on the breeze … 1
Due to the convenience of modern
technology I am typing up this article as
Primary 3/2, along with the School
Choir are rehearsing for the
Lochwinnoch Primary School Easter
Service. Each and every time I work in
any capacity with pupils from
Lochwinnoch Primary School I am so
impressed with the level of commitment
and competence they show and the level
of dedication demonstrated by the
teachers. This is not something that
happens by accident, it is an ethos,
running through the whole school,
which demands the very best from
everyone associated with the school. It is
an ethos that feeds into the Spirit of
Lochwinnoch.
Last night I watched the premier of
Franzeska Ewart’s play, “The Spirit of
Lochwinnoch”. The play revolves around
the problem of how to spend a grant of
£7.5 million to preserve the Spirit of
Lochwinnoch. While the committee
appointed to decide such matters have
various self-serving ideas, the children
want to preserve the stories of old and
through the power of poetry they
convince the adults that this is the way
forward.
For the swallows come and go again,
the flowers bloom and die.
The river always flows from shore to shore,
for our world is always changing, nothing
ever stays the same.
Only stories can go on for evermore.
Yes, the stories of the people, of the
people who were there.
The stories can go on for ever more.
The poems the children shared were
written by themselves and were about
real people who have lived or worked in
our community. They are ordinary
people with what they believe are
ordinary stories to share. The truth is
that all of them tell stories of a world
that is disappearing very rapidly and if
we do not record these stories we will
lose part of our heritage.
Are you searching for the spirit of
Lochwinnoch?
Have you listened to the music of the past?
Did it echo from the churches or the
ancient castle wall?
Did your hand reach out to grasp it? Did you
sigh and let it fall?
Oh, I’m sure you did; I know you did, you
heard its distant call
but as soon as you had heard the sounds,
they vanished, one and all ...
It would be so easy to let these
stories vanish and while we have
the technology to save them, we
need your help. If you know
someone who has worked in any
of the factories or mills that used
to grace our village; if you or a
friend attended school in the
Library or the Struthers
buildings or if you have
memories of a way of life that is
disappearing, please contact the
editors of the Chatterbox.
For the swallows come and go again
The flowers bloom and die
The river always flows from shore to
shore
For our world is always changing, nothing
ever stays the same
Only stories can go on for evermore
Yes, the stories of the people, of the
people who were there
The stories can go on for ever more …
Very often we feel that our story is
nothing special, sometimes we feel
that the past is where these stories
belong. Yet I remember the day that
for me history changed from being an
academic pursuit to being about real
people with real lives. We were
discussing the problems of trench
warfare in the First World War. Our
teacher had shared the horrors the
soldiers had to suffer on a daily basis.
When she told the story of her father
coming home for some well earned
R&R and her grandmother putting his
kilt in the oven to kill the lice and fleas,
the subject became real; it was about
real people with real lives suffering
real horrors.
History has of course to record the
decisions taken by world leaders,
decisions that can lead to war or to
peace; yet we must also preserve the
stories of the ordinary men who go to
war and work for peace; we need to
remember the stories of the women
who worked in factories to keep the
supplies going, the men and women
19
who turned to the land to make sure the
country had enough to eat; we need to
remember the anyone who helped to
shape our village and our community, so
please do get in touch.
The Spirit of Lochwinnoch is something
we all share. I was so proud of the
Primary 7 pupils who took part in the
Spirit of Lochwinnoch: some were
acting, some sharing their own poems,
many were singing the wonderful song
“The Spirit of Lochwinnoch”. All were
giving their best. At the end of the first
performance, Mae Wylie the producer of
the play announced to the audience,
“What a lot of talented people we have in
Lochwinnoch.” How true. As I write, we
are only three quarters of the way
through the Arts Festival and already we
have seen and heard the talents of local
folk as we have listened to our writers,
heard our children play and sing,
enjoyed dancing and watched the
wonderful play.
Over the weekend we’ll have the chance
to enjoy the talents of our folk musicians
and the choir as they entertain us with
Songs from the Shows. At each Arts
Festival event, people are thanked for
their contribution – often the result of
many hours of preparation. Yet one
person who is rarely thanked is Morag
Thow who convenes and motivates the
Arts Festival committee. While Morag is
more often in the background she
undertakes an immense amount of work
organising the events and producing
tickets, banners, fliers and programmes.
Without her the Arts Festival would not
happen and through her work the Spirit
of Lochwinnoch is not just kept alive it is
seen and heard by many people in our
community.
Yes, we’ve got to keep the
spirit of the people who were
there.
We must keep the stories safe
for ever more.
1 All the poetry is from The Spirit of
Lochwinnoch, written by Franzeska
Ewart