Para Handy - Stories

Stories

The stories are set in the Firth of Clyde, Loch Fyne and occasionally the Western Isles of Scotland. The stories are loved, partly for their very Scottish humour and also for their evocation of a lost era of the life of these coastal communities when they depended completely on the water and not, as now, on road transport and the Cal-Mac ro-ro ferry. This is a time when Gaelic is still spoken by some as their native language and everyone in the community was known to all (for good or ill).

The church (the kirk) was much more significant in community life and there is a lot of humour derived from scriptural misquotations which the readers would have understood due to their thorough knowledge of the Bible. Further reference is made to schisms in the kirk, with the same humour, which could sting those who were over serious in defence of their splinter denomination.

To the connoisseur these stories give an insight to the life and attitude of the Firth of Clyde, its tributary sea lochs and the city of Glasgow. They were written as occasional pieces in the "Looker On" column in the "Glasgow Evening News" and, as such were designed to be recognisable to Glaswegians who had Highland backgrounds and also who were city bred but regularly escaped the smoke to go "doon the watter" to the Clyde resorts of Rothesay, Millport, Dunoon and Tighnabruaich. The Vital spark also makes it to Arran and, notably, Loch Fyne which were more adventurous destinations but also accessible to city dwellers by the railway steamers which Para Handy so often envies.

Some of the stories were written over the period of the First World War and give insights into the 'home front' of the time, casting it always in humorous light. This reveals the value of these popular pieces as sources which reflect the life of the community in the Edwardian and WW1 years in the area. Read alongside narrative history of the Western Front they reveal a poignancy. Many of these rural communities could be devastated by a single day's action in the war, yet the stories remain lighthearted. However the stories remained popular, revealing an aspect of character at this time among Scots.