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Helen Cruickshank (1886-1975) wis a Scots makar o rare import richt it the hairt o the Scottish cultural renaissance atween the twa warl wars. She scrievit in Scots thit wis shapit as a barinie in Montrose. Alang we Violet Jacob an Marion Angus, she brocht tae the fore the vyce o the Mearns.
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Helen (Nell) Burness Cruickshank wis born it Hillside, Montrose in 1886, the dother o George and Sarah Cruickshank. Her fowk wis aa fae roonaboot Montrose and Angus.
Nell wis skweelt it Hillside fae the age o fower until gan tae Montrose Academy at ten we her twa auler brithers. Ivry simmer the femily wint tae a but-an-ben oot by Glenesk far they aa gotten a love o naitur an the kintra. The Angus laanskip inspirt Nell's poetry aa her days. The fowk and placies o Angus appear aften in her wark. The femily hidna muckle siller an cuidna pit Nell tae't varsity. Syne she warkit fir the Post Office Savings Bank in London fae 1903 tae 1912. Syne fan she bed London, she gotten richt insnorlt we weemen's suffrage an jynt the Women's Social and Political Union. 
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Helen Cruickshank wi Hugh MacDiarmid
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aiberdeen weemen's suffrage fecht
Click ablo tae git lairnt aboot the Aiberdeen Suffrage Fecht on the webseid biggit be Professor Sarah Pedersen o Robert Gordon Varsity.
In 1912, Helen flittit hame tae Scotland efter gittin a post warkin wi health insurance in the Scottish Office. Efter her flit hame she got yokit scrievin poetry an efter the feenish o the Great War she publisht suppies o her wark, bit ablo ither names, in The Glasgow Herald. She gien a puckle tae CM Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) fir his new anthology Northern Numbers. A life-lang freenship wis biggit atween the twa.
Efter her fadder deid in 1924, she bocht a hoose cried Dinnieduff on Corstorphine Hill an flitted in we her widdaed mither. Dinnieduff becam a gaitherin airt fir mony fowk connekit wi Scottish literature it aat time, an she affen hid the gaitherins o the PEN club ben the hoose richt throuw the 1920s an 1930s. Nell's first collect Up the Noran Water (1934) wis taen oot be Methuen an wis maistly scrievit in Scots - the Mearns Scots fit she hid kent as a bairnie in Montrose an up by Glenesk. A puckle wis scrievit in English. Nell wis a prood an kemp Scots Nationalist an wis ain o the fowk fa biggit the Saltire Society.
Efter the Second Warl War, she taen up post as Executive Officer in the Department o Health in Embra an she bed in aat role syne she lowst fae wark in 1944. Her later warks includit Sea Buckthorn (1954), Ponnage Pool (1968), Collected Poems (1971) an More Collected Poems (1978). She scrievit richt tae the feenish o her days an her last bit nae feenisht wark wis aboot a damie fa cuidna halt for deeth syne she hid ower muckle tae dee.
Efter her fadder deid in 1924, she bocht a hoose cried Dinnieduff on Corstorphine Hill an flitted in we her widdaed mither. Dinnieduff becam a gaitherin airt fir mony fowk connekit wi Scottish literature it aat time, an she affen hid the gaitherins o the PEN club ben the hoose richt throuw the 1920s an 1930s. Nell's first collect Up the Noran Water (1934) wis taen oot be Methuen an wis maistly scrievit in Scots - the Mearns Scots fit she hid kent as a bairnie in Montrose an up by Glenesk. A puckle wis scrievit in English. Nell wis a prood an kemp Scots Nationalist an wis ain o the fowk fa biggit the Saltire Society.
Efter the Second Warl War, she taen up post as Executive Officer in the Department o Health in Embra an she bed in aat role syne she lowst fae wark in 1944. Her later warks includit Sea Buckthorn (1954), Ponnage Pool (1968), Collected Poems (1971) an More Collected Poems (1978). She scrievit richt tae the feenish o her days an her last bit nae feenisht wark wis aboot a damie fa cuidna halt for deeth syne she hid ower muckle tae dee.
UP THE NORAN WATER
Up the Noran Water |
Up the Noran water |
Up the Noran Water |
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In 1966, tae mark her 80th birthday, the BBC commissiont a programme in celebration o her life an wark, an in 1969 her freens commissiont a bust be Vincent Butler, fit can be keekit at in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. She was gien an honorary MA be Embra Varsity in 1971. Helen Cruickshank is mynt on in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Embra
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SEA BUCKTHORN |
Saut an’ cruel winds tae shear it, |
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