by Mark Thompson, Chairman, The Ulster-Scots Agency
Forget government agencies and public bodies. The real face and heart
of Ulster-Scots is not the suited “professionals” and bureaucrats that
trip over themselves to get their photographs as big as possible in
the newspapers, it’s Willie Drennan. Go up to anybody in the street in
Northern Ireland, and they’ll at the very least say “the wee man with
the Lambeg”!
I have the utmost respect for Willie and for what he has done in
lifting Ulster-Scots from being a fringe interest of the dedicated
few, to many new audiences - in schools, at mainstream festivals, on
radio and of course television. I have even had the privilege of
playing mandolin onstage and recording music with him over the years.
“Big Lang Danner”, his second book, takes his work to another level.
If you’ve never read the 1998 worldwide bestseller “A Walk in the
Woods” by the famous American author Bill Bryson, you should get a
copy. It’s his personal experience of walking the Appalachian trail
from Maine to Georgia, and describes the people and places he meets
along the way. “Big Lang Danner” is just as good, and for an Ulster-
Scots or Scottish readership, it’ll open your mind. I’ve spent a bit
of time travelling the roads that Willie walks in this book, and
reading his unique fusion of history, humour, culture and people has
honestly made me want to retrace his steps (although I might skip the
part where he sleeps in the phone box!).
1.5 million people travel by ferry between Ulster and Scotland each
year - but virtually all of them just hurtle through south west
Scotland - that triangle from Stranraer to Dumfries to Ayr, on their
way to somewhere else. This needs to change. I would encourage
everyone to plan some extra time into their journey, to turn off the
A77 or the A75, to visit the places and meet the people that Willie
talks about in this book. Go to Glen Trool, go to Moniaive, spend a
day in Kirkcudbright, and take “Big Lang Danner” with you. There’s no
better introduction to the Ulster-Scots connections - the pages will
come to life as you walk through the villages and landscapes that
Willie has described so well.
Finally, I want to draw your attention to Willie’s conclusion - he
poses some big questions, challenges and ideas at the close of this
book that we would all do well to consider. There is so much more yet
to be done for Ulster-Scots. Government might think it will deliver,
but in actual fact, it’s the ordinary people who will. In "Big Lang
Danner", Willie shows us the way.