A PODCAST series run by XpoNorth is set to share the remarkable stories of women from the Highlands as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.
Some of the stories featured on the Unforgotten Highland Women podcast will include a jewel thief, a witch, a doctor, and an inspirational teacher, revealed from museum archives and broadcast to audiences in a ten-part series set to air in the autumn.
The series will be presented by reporter and podcaster Pauline Moore and will host events across the Highlands to share stories with the communities, interview the orators of the tales and hold information gathering sessions to form an understanding of the women’s lives.
Nicola Henderson, heritage specialist from XpoNorth, said: “It is a real joy to unearth these tales of remarkable Highland women and the podcast series will be a brilliant mechanism in which to do so.
“We are very much looking forward to bringing the stories alive and it will be fascinating to discover any forgotten memories about the six women when we visit the communities to re-tell their stories.”
The first event is set to take place on June 21 at the Highland Museum of Childhood in Strathpeffer. The story of the notorious jewel thief Mary Marjory MacDonald will be told through a discussion with Siobhan Beatson, curator at Ullapool Museum, and Morven Macdonald, curator at Highland Museum of Childhood, uncovering the tale.
Other events will take place on June 23 in Brora where the tales of Megan Boyd – regarded as among the finest makers of salmon fishing flies in the world – and Caroline Ross, a single schoolteacher who hid her pregnancy and conceived an illegitimate child in her lodgings in a rural community in the Highlands in 1930. She was subsequently arrested and charged with child murder, leading to the case becoming a media sensation at the time.
An event in Castletown on June 24 will tell the tale of Margaret Swanson, who influenced the education of girls with her interest in the physical and mental development of children. And on June 28, a Zoom event from the Orkney Archive Centre will discuss the story of Orkney doctor and photographer Beatrice Garvie, with a final event on June 30 at the Nairn Museum to discuss Isobel Gowdie, better known as “The Witch of Auldearn”.
Marie Christie, head of development at VisitScotland, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Unforgotten Highland Women through the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund. Events play an important role in our communities as they sustain livelihoods and help to celebrate and promote our unique places, spaces and stories.
“Museums Galleries Scotland, National Lottery Heritage Fund and VisitScotland are pleased to work in partnership to create this fund to showcase community stories.
“By supporting events taking place within our communities, new opportunities will be provided for locals and visitors to come together and find out more about the diverse stories, past and present, that our communities have to share.”
