Tea break: Dan Morrison

In our regular feature, we join a local for a tea break and find out how they spend their time and their time off. This week, we welcome Dan Morrison, or “Dan Maraig” as he is known. A local icon in his blue van with his sheepdog Nan. He tells us of life in his village and how crofting has changed over the last 85 years.

Dan, where were you born?

I was born in 1940 in the house in Maraig now owned by my son, Iain Morrison. My family have lived in Maraig since they first crofted there in 1885. I went to school here until it closed when I was ten and a half. When I went to the school, it had 15 pupils, but by the time it closed, there would only have been two of us left, so I was sent to Tarbert. We went to Stornoway about once a year.  When I was growing up, I was naïve in a way; I thought that the world was what I could see from the tops of the hills, the rest wasn’t worth thinking about.

When did you start crofting?

We started crofting from the day we could walk. As small children, we were the “gofers”, sent to go for this or go for that. As we got older, we would start working the sheep and cutting peat. We could cut enough peat to run two fires for a whole year in just a couple of days. We didn’t have luxuries, but we were never hungry. We had milk and milk products, like crowdie and cream from the croft cow. We always had a cow and a follower. It took a lot of work to provide for the cows. We needed hay, but the weather was so much better, as I remember, we could grow it. The place looked different because every turf was turned, and seaweed was carried from the shore to fertilise the ground in the spring. It was a fertile area with red brown soil. We didn’t have tractors or roads. Everything had to be carried on your back from the main road or a boat. The sea was the best larder. We had plentiful fish; herring, mackerel, cod and ling from the loch. We knew all the best fishing spots. We could catch haddock at Seaforth Island, and when the weather was bad, we fished for cuddies from the rocks. We would salt a barrel of herring and a barrel of mackerel. We gave the cattle salt herring too, they loved it. Today, cows are given salt supplements. We had chickens for eggs, we grew our own potatoes, and of course, there was mutton. Mutton was something we usually ate in the winter and was often saved for Sunday.

When did you leave the village?

I left the village when I was 16 to take up a joinery apprenticeship in Inverness, but came back in 1962. I then worked as part of a team maintaining all 17 schools on the island, and all the other school properties such as the teachers' houses. The only other time I left the village was to move to Tarbert after I married Joan (MacDonald) in 1968. Until 1975, we lived in East Tarbert, then MacQueen Street, but I had seen a ruin in the village that belonged to my brother Dolly, and we built that into the house that we live in today.

Tell us about the village and crofting when you were younger.

It was a wonderful community. We sheared as a community. There was a big fank at the Eishken Estate where we would shear about 1000 sheep. As children, we first went out there to help at the age of six or seven. We went by boat at 7 am and often didn’t get back into the village until 1 am, when we would eat some soup and fall into bed before doing it again the next day. The Maraig fank was not so big. It was at the top of the village then, near the road. There were about ten of us, with men coming to the village from Scaladale too, all shearing by hand. The women of the village would bring up food when there was a break in shearing and a competition to see who could provide the biggest spread!

In 1949, the villagers started to build the road into Maraig. It was all done by pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow. Occasionally, we had an old lorry to help, but we had to wait until someone brought fuel for it. In 1949, we also got the telephone in the village. Until then, if there was an emergency, you had to walk to Tarbert. Now everyone has a phone, but it seems to me they talk less.

For fun, when I was younger, we played football, but there wasn’t much time for that! Later, I went on to play for Harris FC for 14 years. The Church Hall was built by some workmen from Lewis in 1953, so Maraig got a team together and went to play Tarbert. It was international stuff! School was something I didn’t enjoy, apart from the football. Years later, I thought back on all the things I was told and realised it was an opportunity missed, but I was pleased to have the chance to thank my two teachers at the end of their lives. In Maraig, between two of our houses then there were nine children. I am the only one of us left today.

The Church in the village was an important part of our community. I have been involved with the Church for my whole life and still am. When I was young, a man called John MacLeod was the missionary. He lived in Maraig but preached in Maraig, Ardvourlie, and Rhenigadale. In winter, on stormy nights when he had been in Rhenigadale we would watch for his light coming back to the village, and in 25 years, he only missed two days.

Paul Russ (Ardvourlie), Dan, and Duncan MacLeod (Scalpay)

What are the biggest changes you have seen?

I sometimes wonder if any generation has seen so much change. I find it amazing, and it stops me in my tracks. Some changes are terrific. Some make you wonder if the place would be better off without them. The biggest change is the weather. It has changed dramatically over the last 40 years. Before the weather changed, I couldn’t remember a year when there was no harvest and peats were not cut. Now there is no harvest because we can’t rely on getting the hay dry. Accordingly, all the sheep feed must be brought in, which increases our costs. It makes it too expensive to keep cows over the winter, so these days our milk all comes in cartons, and the crowdie is not quite so good. Crofting has disappeared apart from the sheep.

But not all the changes are bad. I remember the first fish van and the grocery vans that followed. These were great. And whilst it is sad to see the original village people dying out - I am now the only person here who was born here - the people who have moved into the village are, in general, terrific. They fit in with the way of life here and add to our community.

What support do you think crofting needs?

We should get a decent price for animals and a decent price for wool. We gather the animals from as high as the Clisham and shear them. We bag and tag the wool. Last year, we had 15 huge wool bags that we had to transport to Stornoway. For that, we received around £100. Some people haven’t received that much. This has to change. We can’t burn the wool, as it would be bad for the environment. But what has it come to when we would be better off burning something that is needed than using it or selling it? As a side issue, I think people with good land should try and produce local food for local people.

How do you spend your time now that you are retired?

I have had to learn a few new skills! I help look after my wife and her medication. I help with cooking and washing. I make mince and potatoes, in fact, I am about to get a pan on. I don’t read so much because my eyes are going. But I like to watch sports. I help Iain on the croft, but I am limited. I do the “road work” with my dog Nan. I gather the wool, but it is Iain who does the shearing. This year we redesigned the fank in Maraig and I helped with that. I was helping at the fank in Scaladale this morning.

What do you miss the most?

I miss gathering sheep and working with the dogs. These days, my legs won’t take me where I want to go. I have always had a decent dog. I miss the gathering more than I miss the shearing.

The wonderful thing about crofting is the teamwork and friendships, talking about the sheep and the dogs. Iain spends a lot of time in other places helping, and others come here, and not a cross word is said.

Have you got any top tips for a young crofter?

Become an MP and tell the truth!

What are your favourite places in Harris?

In October 1964, I spent a fortnight on Scarp. I went to work for a week and was stormbound for a week. There were a lot of old people I visited, listening to their stories, and I remember it well. Now, my favourite place is in Maraig, right where I am now, by the log burner.

It’s tea break time. What’s on the menu?

A good, strong cup of tea and a freshly baked scone with cream and crowdie.