Pickers came from near and far year after year - and from a variety of backgrounds - for the berry-picking season. For local people, adults and children, it was an opportunity to supplement the family income; Glasgow folk combined it with a holiday. For the Scottish Traveller community it was an annual opportunity to meet up with friends and family, and forge new relationships.

Roger Leitch encouraged many of those local berry pickers to share their recollections for this book - which is published at a time of political change with challenges for the soft fruit cultivation business. He also interviewed workers in other seasonal employments such as potato picking and ghillieing.

About the Author

Ethnologist Roger Leitch started making fieldwork recordings in the early 1980s. He is best known for his The Book of Sandy Stewart which tells, through oral history and photographs, of the lives of Scottish Traveller Sandy Stewart and his family. Published in 1988, it is now a key text for ethnology students for both its content and its methodology.

Caroline Milligan is Research Assistant, European Ethnological Research Centre.

Reviews

' ... Fascinating material is presented throughout ... The focus on the wide range of oral testimonies presented, mostly from a particular region of Scotland that has thus far not received in-depth attention in the wider historiography, means that the book offers important insights for the historical agenda.' Scottish Archives

Book Information
ISBN 9781910682395
Author Roger Leitch
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint NMSE - Publishing Ltd
Publisher NMSE - Publishing Ltd
Weight(grams) 283g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 20mm