10 May 2020
/How are you?
Another week of Lockdown under our belts and some signs that it's working but we are still a long way from me being able to welcome you to Hammer Inn in person, unfortunately.
So, instead, an email catch up from me inspired by a week of reminiscing.
Debbie is using the Lockdown to get to grips with a project that we've talked about for probably a decade now: putting together a collection of my stories. I have plenty of them and, as you may already know, I can tell a good tale! Luckily, Debbie can write and also organise all the material I can come up with, so - between us - we're excited about what we can create.
On Instagram earlier this week, I posted about the legacy my life as a countryman represents - the countrymen who’ve shared their knowledge and helped to train me, helping me go from a city boy to countryman.
I’ve lived and worked in some of the most beautiful parts of Scotland in all four corners: north-east to south-west, north-west to south-east with a pivotal stint right in the middle. Magical places including Speyside, Knapdale, Galloway and Morvern, places that many, even from Scotland, will never have visited but places that have shaped me and given me the wonderful experiences that now make me The Scottish Countryman.
Stunning west highland scenery: Morvern in the north-west of Scotland
But it may surprise you to learn that I was not born in the countryside! I don’t hail from country stock at all.
My early years were coastal: I come from the tight-knit fishing community of Torry on the north-east coast of Scotland, from a sea-facing family; my Dad’s father worked on a trawler and my Mum’s mother worked as a fish-filleter and her father in a shipyard.
Torry was a hard-working place and there was always plenty going on. I nipped around the fringes of it all on my push-bike, skateboard or on foot and my early school-aged years were mostly spent around the shore. My Grandad and my big brother taught me the rudiments of spinning and, as a youngster, I passed many, many contented hours fishing for sea trout and mackerel.
This print of Aberdeen Harbour from Torry includes my favourite fishing spots - the Skate’s nose, just out of shot on the lower right of the painting, the Sannies up at the far left and the Banana Pier, gating the harbour’s entrance, on the left. The picture is is one of my most cherished things - a gift from my Mum and Dad.
‘Low Tide, Aberdeen Harbour’ by Donald M Shearer
Along with fishing, I also discovered an interest in sea birds and I taught myself all about the local species before joining the Young Ornathologists Club to learn more, cycling out to the sandstone cliffs south of Torry at Cove to spend time watching the birds as they nested and raised young.
Birds fascinated me so, when I first learned about falconry, aged about 11 and seeing a local man in Torry fly a kestrel, I was completely captivated.
A few years later my brother, almost ten years older than me and then in the Royal Navy down south, arranged for me to spend time with the falconers at RNAS Yeovilton’s Bird Control Unit. You can see the awed reverence in my face in this photo taken during that visit!
That did it for me! I had no idea how one could become a falconer, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do. I realised, however, that traditional falconry happens on moors, however, not sea cliffs or coasts.
Steven Brazendale and a Lanner falcon at RNAS Yeovilton
I was therefore determined, by the time I was 15, to find a way to live and work in the countryside, to pass up the suggestion of becoming an apprentice joiner with a local glazing company in Torry and to head inland to build my future.
I knew the environment was key to what I wanted to do and that meant heading for the hills. Initially, those were the hills of Royal Deeside…
If you want to hear my story as we create the sections and chapters and stories and build it up over the next weeks and months, you’ll have to be a member of The Scottish Countryman’s Club, where I have promised to give exclusive first access.
But, if you want to ask me anything about my early years in Torry, I’m all ears!
Comment below or reply to the email that led you here.
Until next time, take care and stay safe!
Steve
P.S. If you missed my previous email/s, you’ll find them all here.
Over on Instagram recently…
