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Crofter Boy (clip 1)

Life in a crofting community in the 1950s

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Description

This film is a dramatised documentary about life in a crofting community. In this film we meet Kenny the Crofter Boy and his family who live in the fictitious crofting community of 'Invergair'.

Kenny travels 14 miles to the nearest school by car and bus. The lessons begin and we see Boys doing woodwork and playing shinty during the interval, with the girls singing in a Gaelic choir.

Questions & Activities

Questions

  • What is a croft and where would you find a crofting community?
  • What jobs do you see Kenny's mum and dad doing?
  • How does Kenny get to school and how long does it take him?
  • Compare Kenny's school to your own. What is similar and what is different?
  • The children in the clip are said to 'take the scenery for granted' - do you take anything for granted about the area you live in?
  • What traditions are important to Gaelic speaking culture?

Activities

Invergair is a fictional place in the film. Look at the map at the beginning of the clip and try and locate where this fictional village might have been based. Investigate other areas of Scotland that would have had crofting communities.

Find out about modern industries in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

What tasks do you think Kenny had to help out with before and after school?

Find out about traditions of Gaelic music

Write a diary entry for a typical day in Kenny's life.

Clip Details

Record Id 007-000-000-027-C
Resource Rights Holder National Library of Scotland
Project Ref 0112
Date 1955
Genre Documentary, Drama Doc, Educational
School Subject Geography, Gaelic, English, Health and Wellbeing, Business Studies, Music
Subject Matter Rivers and Coasts
Who SEFA (sponsor), SFC (sponsor), Stanley L. Russell (director), Thames and Clyde (production company)
Where Highlands
Event Schooldays
Attributes Black and White, Sound
Clip Length 6:17
Film Length 19:00