A Kist o Wurds

Anne Morrison-Smyth finds out about the origins of the lambeg drum from historian, Alister McReynolds; and percussionist, Mark Wilson talks to one of the hopefuls at Northern Ireland’s largest lambeg drumming competition which takes place every summer in Markethill, County Armagh. A new website containing digitized versions of fourteen works from the John Hewitt collection, was launched recently at the University of Ulster (Coleraine Campus). Dr Frank Ferguson explains that half a dozen of these rare texts have an Ulster-Scots twist. Rosemount Estate in Greyabbey – home of the Montgomery family – played host this summer to a "Working Vintage" display. Kist attends this fair in the old Scottish Gathering tradition and finds: jeeps that saw action in Vietnam; unique engines made from parts of dumper trucks; and women for whom driving a tractor is the key to happiness! This programme was produced by Elizabeth Rice for Blackthorn Productions. If you have any comments, please email the production team at [email protected] or telephone 028 9033 8435.