Belle Anne is star of Fisherfolk Festival
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A DOCUMENTARY about a legendary Ross-shire fishwife and celebrated singer is to be premiered at a festival this weekend.
The film will recall the life and times of Belle Anne MacAngus, who was also known as the "Hilton Fishwife".
It will be one of the main highlights at the Fisherfolk Festival which will be a celebration of the seagoing history and heritage of the three Seaboard villages of Hilton, Shandwick and Balintore.
Running this weekend, June 16 to 18, the festival will be centred at the Seaboard Memorial Hall in Balintore and feature a packed programme of events.
The film about Belle Anne has been made by six young musicians from Fèis Rois, working alongside acclaimed fiddler Duncan Chisholm, as part of its Kin and Community project.
The group spent months researching recordings from the Highland Archive Centre in Inverness and the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh as well as interviewing local people to bring Belle Anne’s music and personality to life.
They have collectively produced and recorded a 20-minute contemporary multi-media show, filmed in the Seaboard, which will be premiered on Saturday, June 17 at 12 noon at the hall.
Belle Anne was born in May 1889 to Georgina Sutherland from Sutherland and Josepth Corris from Isle of Mann, who met while working away at the herring fishing.
She was brought up by her mother, her uncle Donald, and sister Elspeth, who were all native Gaelic speakers with little, if any, English.
Belle Anne was the only wage earner at her home in Hilton and supported her elderly family. She worked tirelessly, buying, preparing and selling fish all around the local area, which was to become her trade mark.
Local woman Maureen Ross, who features in the film, said: "I lived next door to Belle Anne when I was a young child. I recall her feeding the hens and she would give me an egg most mornings for breakfast.
"My father remembered her as a great singer because you could hear her excellent voice above all the others in the church.
"She was a big, strong woman and the last of the fishwives from the villages. It was an honour and a privilege to take part in the documentary."
Belle Anne’s remarkable singing voice and repertoire of Gaelic song came to the attention of academics and folklorists who visited her home in Hilton to interview her. It was those archives that the Fèis Rois team was able to draw on to help produce the film.
The Fisherfolk Festival kicks off tonight, Friday, night with a dinner dance in the Seaboard Memorial Hall with music from Wood N Stone. Tickets priced £10 are available from the hall.
A big street party will be held in Balintore on Saturday from 11am to 3pm and which will also mark 15 years since the opening of the community hall.
Family fun will be the order of the day with live music, magic tricks, face painting, workshops, art exhibition, games, heritage displays and lots of food.
At night a variety show will be held in the hall with local turns of tn whistlers, fisherfolk Voices, comic verse and drama. This will be followed by a ceilidh with the Port Ceilidh Band from 9.15-11.30pm.
On Sunday, Balintore Harbour will be the setting for a Songs of Praise at 2.30pm. All are welcome.
