Scots Language Centre
Sponsored by
Supporters of
Council
Gordon Beange - Treasurer
Born in Aberdeenshire and educated in the counties of Banff and Moray, Gordon considers himself as belonging to the North East. He worked as a Chartered Accountant in both professional practice and commerce in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Elgin before settling in Perth in 1972. Through these moves, Gordon developed a keen interest in Scots language and the different dialects. Now retired, Gordon has been involved with various charitable organisations over the years and has been part of the SLC team since its formation and administers its finances
Caroline Beaton
After a year in Paris and a stint as a model in Edinburgh College of Art I finally settled on a career in librarianship. I have worked in Forres, Moray and in Perth and Dundee - formerly as a schools librarian, then as a children's librarian before moving into education in Dundee. My current post has given me the opportunity to work a little more strategically - I have operational responsibility for the libraries 'bit' of Libraries and Lifelong Learning in Perth and Kinross.
James Forbes
Born in Edinburgh, early years spent in London
School education in Edinburgh.
University education in St Andrews, taking one year out to live in Berlin, Germany and six months in Salzburg, Austria.
1981-1988 - Social Security Officer
1988- 1993 - Working for a wholesaler
1994 to present - secondary teacher of German and French, currently at Lasswade High School, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian.
Colin Milton - Convener
b. Aberdeen, educ. Cornhill Primary and Robert Gordon's College. MA (Eng Land & Lit) University of Aberdeen; PhD (also Aberdeen)
From base in the English Department, helped in 1995 to set up the Elphinstone Institute, a centre for research into the history, language and traditions of the North and North \east Scotland.
Currently Associate Director of the Institute.
Published work on history of writing in Scots in the last two centuries, with a particular emphasis on poetry in Scots.
Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin is the Curator of Modern Scottish Collections at the National Library of Scotland. He was born and brought up in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, and studied English Literature at St Andrews University. Andrew worked for a number of years at the National Museums of Scotland in which he compiled Scottish anthologies on weather, death and cinema going.
Chris Robinson
Chris Robinson - A former pupil of Perth Academy, I have taught chemistry, biology and horse-riding but eventually settled for English Language at Edinburgh University where I have taught for over 20 years and have been involved with the BA in Cultural Studies at the UHI since the degree was in the planning stages. For the past few years, however, my main interest has been Scottish Language Dictionaries. I undertake outreach work for the Dictionaries and visit schools, writers' groups or any other interested organisation to talk about language in general, Scots in particular, lexicography and writing. Our current main project is a new edition of the Concise Scots Dictionary.
Websites :
www.scotsdictionaries.org.uk
www.scuilwab.org.uk
Jennifer Smith
1996: MA in Linguistics, University of Durham
2000: PhD. University of York. Syncrhony and Diachrony in the Evolution of English: Evidence from Scotland.
Having completed my first degree, I worked in Greece for six years teaching English as a Foreign Language (although many of the students ended up sounding distinctly Scots!). I decided to return to Britain in 1995 and went back to university to do an MA in Linguistics. I then went to York to do a PhD... doing research on my own dialect from Buckie - most convenient! After completing my PhD, I got a full time lectureship in York. However, the lure of the north prevails, and I start at Glasgow University in January, working in the English Language Department.
My research includes the grammar of Scots, making transatlantic connections between dialects in the British Isles and North America, and acquisition of dialect forms in young children. I am currently writing a book with David Adger on variation and syntactic theory.
Rab Wilson
Rab Wilson is a poet, psychiatric nurse and former miner.
Kate Howie
Councillor Howie holds a seat on Perth and Kinross Council.