(wind sounds, rushing water) (soft music starts) To live in Scotland is tough. The country is just a big lump of stone, with some lumps of coal covered in grass. So I think perhaps, all these rituals started to provide a path for a boy becoming a man. This is the first Highland games I have ever been to; proper one. And obviously, being in Scotland I was blown away by everything that was going on with the heavy stone throw, the sprint races, the weight over the high bar, the hammer throw. The putting position. A clean palm and a dirty neck. That’s how they do it. And that’s a good starting position. I look at the history and see the background and find things that’s been forgotten about. A good example of that is the stones of strength; the clach neart that we have in Scotland. Hundreds of years ago they tied horses up with stones it’s how they built houses. And they test their strength with stones. They say the most popular stones in the world would be the Dinnie Stones and a really close second would be the Inver Stone. Given the fact that it’s almost 40 years now since I did this is as far as I know I'm still the only woman to have done it. There is, and obviously cultures change. And we probably lost a lot of the traditional gifts our fathers gave us. Dinnie Stones were named after a very famous man in Scotland who basically brought stone culture back that was actually slipping away. It’s the myth and the stories and the history around people like Donald Dinnie and the stones. And people that talk about all the different stones and who lifted them and who didn’t lift them, how they lifted them. They’re just rocks to anybody else walking past but if you know, you know. If you know the history you know the stories that’s what makes it awesome. Well we’re going down around to the edge of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, and near Aboyne. And we’re going down towards the Bridge of Potarch. The contours of the river have changed an awful lot since I’ve been here last. (soft piano music plays) The Dinnie Stones had been lost between the two wars. You know, when we were looking for the stones, this part, was like it is over there. You could walk right down to the water from here. I think it was the other side of that tree and that the water has changed a bit. And because there was a shrub, mind you, it could be there couldn’t it? It’s the long grass, it was within the long grass with a shrub behind it. I’m David Webster, born and bred in Aberdeen. I moved around in the war and after the war traveled all over the world for sports and here I am. As a kid I used to see posters of wrestling. And I used to ask the billboard guy, can I have one of those? And so I started my collection collecting wrestler’s posters. They gave me another thing. I like this one very much indeed. That was given to me as a… they call it a lifetime award thing from the famous Joe Weider. So, you know, that is very well known in the physique world. And he very kindly gave me it. Solid bronze. Weighs a ton. Yes. I got the opportunity in the Army to become a physical training instructor. That was a great opportunity for me because it lays out a basic foundation of doing the things properly. When I came out of the Army I became a school teacher in physical education. What came out of that was that I became the first strength coach in Scotland we believe. And that was me off really down a very long and interesting life. (bagpipes playing) Yes, I’m Scottish through and through. Scotland is very near and dear to my heart. Openness and friendliness to other people would probably be the main ingredient I would consider as being a Scot. By the same token, I’m quite happy to lift my fists fast if necessary. (bagpipes and drums play) Scotland is eight percent mountain and moor. The Highlands seem to be the more northern, central northern part. Geographically, this is where it becomes more mountainous. Our hills are big round lumps worn down by thousands of years of weather. So consequently, the country is a just big lump of stone with some lumps of coal covered in grass. (bagpipes and drums play) Everyone had to be hard-working. So there was a degree of respect and a: hard work, b: education, and c: spirituality. My father when he came out of school, he did hard, hard work and drew for the quarry. He was having to handle big stones and load them. You know stones are a part of Scottish culture. (bagpipes and drums fade out) Right. The lifting stone plaque should be in here somewhere. There we go. Specially made for the stone. Made by a friend of mine, Douglas Edwards. (hums a song to himself) I do mean to have this on a post at some time, but never got round to it, I’ve been really busy. But I will put it on a post here with a plaque. So I’ll probably just situate it here eventually. The Dalwhinnie Stone means manhood stone. The myth was if you lifted the stone and walked it into the bar and put it on the bar, you got a free beer. But that was a tall order. But these guys are lifting it above their heads and so it’s possible. I look at the history and trying to see the background and try to find things that’s been forgotten about. A good example of that is the stones of strength, the clach neart that we have in Scotland. Manhood stones normally in Scotland might be at the castle, it might be in the village square, but basically these were roundish stones coming generally from the river someplace and historically the idea was you pick it up, put it on a wall, prove to the chieftain, prove to your village, that you’re a man. It was a culture that was based on the cult of the warrior. Each clachan, each glen, would have it’s own wee test. But there probably was a culminating test in front of all your peers. And so that probably brought in the more ritualistic and therefore the more traditional aspects of stone lifting in Scotland. (people in background) Nice nice! Not very easy, well done. My name is Martin Jancsics. I currently work as a draftsman. I previously worked as a builder on a building site which is where I got a lot of my strength from. My great passion, I have to say, is touring around Scotland lifting all these historic stones. I first learned about historic stones back in 2011, and I came across a book on these stones by a guy called Peter Martin. I like to find stones from building sites and pull them out of a field. Out of everyone’s way and everyone's sight and just my own little place to train. My own sanctuary. Yes! Martin Jancsics has had a lot to do with helping to continue the stone lifting culture and stone lifting outreach in Scotland. I was looking up stones and things and places I could go and maybe train. So I got in touch with Peter Martin we corresponded back and forth maybe 3 or 4 months and then he agreed to meet me in Crathie to watch me lift the Inver Stone. (soft guitar music plays) June Richards looks after the stone, it sits in her garden. It’s across from the Inver Hotel. She’s looked after it for forty years plus. Just come in and have a little talk and then they go out and see if they can lift it. I don’t know if there’s any other books in here. Hamish will tell me. Is there any other books in here about Inver Stone? In the cabinet? You get something out Hamish because I know there is. She actually has a book, if someone comes in and has a successful lift, you can go ahead and sign the book. This must be it, now is it. Well, when we had it then there wasn’t so much talk about the stone then as there is now. It was here when we came here which was in 1941, but I don’t know what happened before that. She’s nice woman. She’ll make you a cup of tea and eat a biscuit. They say the most popular stones in the world would be the Dinnie Stones and a really close second would be the Inver Stone which is my favorite because it’s my very first one. It weighs one hundred twenty kilograms, two hundred sixty five pounds. The last time I went down I shouldered it, I had my phone in my back pocket and I took it out and took a little picture of myself and put it back down again. The first time you lift one of these stones you get a feather in your cap. In olden times when a young lad wanted to try a stone, if he did it, he was now declared a man, and he was allowed to wear the eagle’s feather in his hat. That's well done. Whew. Well I didn’t think I was going to get it up the first time. I’m quite, quite delighted about it. Here we go. There are about four or five other stones in the within the area. You get to know about the other ones and people come from all over the world. The Menzies stone in the castle is often called the Chieftain Stone, weighs two hundred fifty two pounds, is a big ball of granite, and to achieve manhood, a man was expected to lift it and carry it around ten paces. It’s lighter, but it’s a lot harder to lift. It’s a sphere and it’s so smooth. It’s like touching glass. So you really have to give it everything you’ve got to lift it. (spectators) That’s it. That’s it. Well done. Lovely. (grunts with effort) (spectators laughing) I think you’re going to get it up. It’s a bugger, it’s a bugger. You’re going to the Fianna Stone next aren’t you? That’s another Menzies Stone that you’re going to. Glen Lyon is Menzies territory. You’ll find that one easier than this one. I give a bit of information on Facebook and everyone around the world seemed to enjoy the page and get information about it. I’ve had a lot of people contact me through that page. And Bill actually wanted to come over here and asked for me to show him around and give him a guided tour of the locations and give him a little history about the stones as well. The stone of the Fianna. Clach Na Fianna. Stone used to be sitting here and you’d have to lift it up, basically on the chest, high as kite and put it on the plinth. And that was the first test of manhood. And I think the other two were, to be a Fianna, you had to run under a sword that was held at (Yes) chest height without breaking stride and also jump the length or width of your kilt which was about 8 feet (Yes) and so those three things would qualify you to be a Fianna. Bill is like a hero of mine. He does a lot for the Highland games especially. He’s got a great passion for historic stones and he has a lot of respect for them as well. People date it back maybe, oh, two thousand years, so that would be the oldest testing stone that we know of. If you can stand up when you lift it, it’s just a great feel knowing that a thousand years ago, people have been coming to lift this thing as a test of strength to become a warrior. And to be a part of a history like that is actually, it kind of overwhelms you at times. It’s the history that makes them all so special because they date back hundreds and thousands of years. It was lifted by clansman here before before we were even here. Before buildings were here, houses or roads or anything, just horses, carts and stones. (soft music plays) We assume the first clans were groups of men or family groups that grouped together probably as cooperative to clear some land to grow some food and eventually start to develop some defensive type practices. Most people in Scotland probably didn't live in terror, but you knew the McGregor’s were there, the Roberson’s were there, the Murray’s were there, the Graham's were there, the Drummond’s were there, and the McNab’s were there, and at anytime, forty, fifty, sixty or a hundred of their men could come over the hill. So you probably lived with a sword of Damocles above your head all the time. My name is David Colin Sutherland Henderson, David Henderson, Castle Manager of Castle Menzies in Perthshire. It was a meritocracy. You position within the clan, including the chief, was based upon his ability. And if the clan chief was not able, he would not be the clan chief. It wasn’t promotion by birthright. So if you were the son of the chieftain it didn’t mean that you would become the chieftain. It was by acclamation. The best person to do the job. And that sums Scotland up. (soft flute and drum music plays) The clan was dispersed. So there must've been times when they had to come together. To allow marriages to take place. To formulate their military strategy. The Highland Games would be a mixture of kinship, it would be sociability. And it would enable the clan chief to show himself. This is just one of the things which is said to have originated Highland Games. Malcolm Canmore, the Scottish King, needed a messenger and so he organized a race to the top of Craig Choinnich. There was an invitation that went out to all the young men of the village. And so off they went to the top of the hill and they pulled out a stick and the first man to get up there was going to be his messenger. But of course while they’re standing at the bottom there, they wanted some entertainment and something. So they did a little bit of stone putting and this that and the next thing. And that was a little sign of something like this happening as a sporting event. Originally it was part of a laird deciding who would work for him and help him. Who could run the furthest and the fastest. And who could lift what. So it was all designed to save the estate and look after the people that were on it. (guitar and whistling music) (guitar and whistling music fades out) (yells with effort) (over P.A.) Aboyne of course one of the connoisseurs of Highland Games linked so much to this famous day here in Aboyne, to tradition and so evident around the field with the chieftains and laird's banners raised and flying for us in our enjoyment around the grandstand today. One hundred and forty nine years and going as strong as ever. Games day at Aboyne. Historical parts of the games are the dancing, the sprint races, the fun go races up the mountains, but then obviously the more regular events that the people know of and see at the Highland Games is the heavy stone throw, the light stone throw. Then there’s the weight over the high bar, and the caber toss. It’s a twenty eight pound weight for distance, so you throw like a discus. You spin around and you’re throwing a weight and a link. You basically try and throw it as far as you can. Can I have you tuck it into my garter? Well, I was going to do it but then I thought it would be just a bit strange. The hammer head would be cast iron. Formed iron shot with a bamboo shaft which is four foot two inches long. (yells with effort) Stone putting is a big part of the development of stones for sport. And the best stones, in the olden days, used to come from the bed of a Scottish river. And you go down where the water’s tumbled them over and over and made them round and smooth. Ideal for putting against your neck. You don’t want a rough stone. There you are, the putting position. A clean palm and a dirty neck. That’s how they do it. And that’s a good starting position. I’ll just give it a wee put. 1867 the Aboyne games was founded. So these stones have probably been in the go since then. Unchanged. It’s all traditional Highland sports and dancing which have evolved over the years and this is a modern day version. Me and my brother actually had a little competition, when we were five or six years old maybe, using a carpet tube as a caber. A little bit of wrestling with mini-kilts. So, you know, it was a crowd-pleaser. So that was the only Highland games I ever competed in. We have an unknown quantity next. James Gardner. I’m James Gardner. I’m from Staffordshire England. Physical Education teacher. But I obviously have an interest in all around weightlifting and strength sports. The purpose of my trip was not to come and compete in the Highland Games, but to come to the Highland Games to make my attempt at lifting the Dinnie Stones. I heard about them from my father. He spoke about stones of strength and so on with his pals. And somebody had lifted these Dinnie Stones. Donald Dinnie was the world’s first sporting superstar. There's no doubt about that. I defy anybody to contradict it with somebody better. Dinnie Stones were named after a very famous man in Scotland who basically brought the culture back that was actually slipping away. He was a fantastic athlete that competed in the 1800’s between 1862 to 1898. He’s got over a thousand prizes and most of them are medals. Well, there’s all sorts of feats. He used to tour the world And I think there’s all sorts of tall stories about him beating single handed teams of four or five men in a tug of war. Himself. Even today by the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame he was one of the first members to go into there. He lifted the Dinnie Stones over the width of the bridge which made them famous. Dinnie Stones were three hundred and thirty three point one eight kilograms. The stones became lost with the World War and then a second World War and they’d just been completely forgotten about. Nobody seemed to know where they were or what happened. So in the early 1950’s I’d hunt around. And I thought well, it’s the Bridge of Potarch. When they made the Bridge of Potarch across the River Dee, they were used to hoist scaffold poles. Him and his father got a job fixing the Potarch Bridge, because they were stone masons. They got these two big stones, which is now known as the Dinnie Stones and that was their counterbalance. Took quite a bit of finding, I’ll tell you. I thought maybe he’d dropped the stones into the river. So I just went looking and I went right to the water. Actually I couldn’t believe my eyes. Right down in the water there were these stones. Just about here. Lo and behold it was there and I discovered the Dinnie Stones. One of them had a ring the other one didn’t have a ring. I knew it was the Dinnie Stones with a ring on it. Holy Moses we were so excited that we’d found them after this. And we couldn’t wait to get them up and discover a little bit more about their weights and all the rest of it. (projector whirring sound) One of the first people to lift them after Donald Dinnie himself and one of the lightest men to lift the stones was Jack Shanks from Ireland who was a policeman when he did it. He carried the stones and nobody ever has done since that time. My name’s Jack Shanks. I’m eighty-one years old. When I arrived that day I remember one of these guys was after me. Well, Dinnie carried them. I didn’t think that was possible. I noticed when I put them down at times that I had to step forward. And then I thought, well, if I exaggerated that movement. So I decided lift and step forward and that’s how I carried them. Lift, set down, lift, set down. Never took my hand’s off them and I was able to do the distance that way. I think they were made for me. (laughs) My inspiration is the man right there, which was Jack Shanks. I saw him lift the stones in 1972. And I thought to myself, I can do that. I was only ten-stone-four. Jim Splaine actually holds the record for having lifted the Dinnie Stones more times than anyone. I probably recorded, sixty-five, sixty-seven lifts of the stones in that period of time. And then, now all the big guys are coming in and stealing my thunder. When I came along here one day the press was there and said we want something different Jim because you’ve been lifting these stones for years now. Can you not maybe take a young girl and put her on your shoulders? I looked around and saw all these girls and they were pretty big girls. And I thought…no. I saw my son. I’ll take my son and put my son on my shoulders and lift him. I'll lift with my son on my shoulder. Which I did. Well my son is a civil servant but he’s also in a band called Flash Harry. I think the thing I’m most proud of is that I’m the son of Jack Shanks. It’s a big big thing for me. It has been since I’ve been a kid. Because you know, my whole life dad was the strong guy. I’m just turning fifty, I just thought it would be nice to be in shape. And I started the whole body building process I put up about four pounds. And then the Dinnie’s popped into my head. And Stevie started to train. And when’s he’s fifty-two years of age, he lifted them with bare hands. (applause) And Jan Todd. A woman lifting a Dinnie stone. You know, absolutely fabulous. It was not easy. I tried it and failed twice. And I had dug pretty deep on my second attempt. And I kinda took a little break and I walked off down toward the river for a minute. It was sort of mentally, reminding me, you’re not just doing this for you. It’s one of those barriers for other women. And if you can do it, it’ll be remembered. So I tried really hard. It was good motivation. And it did clear, but not for long. The surprising thing to me though, given the fact that it’s almost forty years now since I did this, is as far as I know, I’m still the only woman to have done it. (soft music plays) One hundred thousand welcomes to this Dinnie Steen competition. They’re named after Donald Dinnie the first sporting superstar. And he lived right in this village and he was present at the very first meeting to start the Aboyne Games. David Webster has been the one man curator, preserver, ambassador, and publiciser, of Scotland’s incredible strength history. It’s well recognized around the world that if you manage to go to Scotland to lift the Dinnie Stones that’s some feat of strength and that just gives me an interest and the passion to come and make that attempt and to be one of the people that’s registered that’s lifted the stones successfully. (crowd cheers) Can’t get them both. I believe that there are four athletes in the competition: America, Scotland, South Africa, and myself. The organizers of the Aboyne Highland Games thought it would be interesting to see who could hold them the longest. And this hasn’t really been done before. Your timekeeper is Jan Todd. Professor Jan Todd from the University of Texas in Austin. (crowd cheers) Jan is going to kill me for telling you this, she’s sixty four years of age. Still going strong. (crowd) Come on now! (bagpipes and drums play) I lost my balance and that was it. I’ll be back again next month, and I’ll get em. I’ll get a better lift. (crowd cheers) James was nervous as we all are because there’s no hold on the thing you get into. (crowd) Come on now! Come on James! Three hundred and thirty three point one eight kilograms. That’s the heaviest object I’ve ever lifted. (crowd cheers) First thing in the morning I said. Well? What’s going on what’s happening? What time did you lift them up? I’ve just done it. You know, he’s just casual as any. I’ve just done it. But I could tell he was stoked. I managed to lift them for twelve point zero eight seconds which was recorded by Jan Todd, who was the officiator at the time. What a job. Twelve point eight seconds or something? So I’m going for fourteen next year. (laughs) James, I’m coming for you. Three seconds. That’s a much as I could of sort of dream about doing it. To see people failing who are experts and then this young guy come along and doing it. Winner is James Gardner! (crowd cheers) Things have changed a lot since a hundred odd years ago. Around about here granite’s being used mainly for building stones and bridges. It’s the material that’s in abundance. Easily found, not easily worked, but certainly easily found. It was made several million years ago, so there’s not a problem and reusing, recycling it time and time again. My next door neighbor came to me and said, do you mind if I give your phone number or address to a man that would like to meet you? I was a little bit cagey. I said, “Have you a name”? He said Gordon Dinnie. Dinnie? Dinnie Dinnie Dinnie. Oh well. I’m Senga Dinnie. My late husband was Gordon Dinnie and his main interest in life was researching everything Dinnie. And he was very enthusiastic about getting all the details about his ancestors. He was so obsessed he eventually decided to get replicas made of the Dinnie Stones and he resourced a company in Aberdeen who'd do this for him. The thing that we had to do was, not so much finding the stones, because finding stones, there’s plenty of them, but getting them right weight. That was the key issue. So I had a selection of about fifteen to twenty stones that we were able to narrow it down to two that were more or less spot on the weight. The rings and everything so he got them all measured up and so on. He was so enthusiastic. Wonderful. That everyone was interested in Donald Dinnie. Holy Moses. These are Brett’s stones they’re called the Nicol Stones. So he’s found these. He kind of tortured local farmers. He would try to find stones made of granite that look like the Dinnies. So he has his own that he can get them ready. It was just a thing I felt like. I’ll make stones to train for them. A blacksmith friend of mine made these for me. He welded these in and I put these in myself. It was all part and parcel, I was training for the Dinnie Stones. (bystanders) You can do it. Come on! So we’ll pick these boys up. These weigh two-eighty, two-ninety kilos whereabouts. The Dinnies are three-thirty kilos. So a wee bit behind it. So in theory, I should be comfortable enough. In theory. (bystanders) That’s way to do it. Come on. Keep going. Yeah! That’s the way to do it. Have I reached the bridge yet? (bystanders) (laughing) The bridge is too far. I think that’s enough for today. Well done. Excellent. That's the way I carried the Dinnie Stones. (soft music plays) We’ll count the Dinnie’s as two. Six. Seven. Eighth stones we’ve been to. This is the eighth stone that we’ve seen in five days. Well done. The Barevan Stone is at the church courtyard. The church is now collapsed. Some of it is still there, but not a lot. The Barevan Stone is at the end of a grave. We don’t exactly know why that stone is there. There’s different stories about whether it’s the stone of the man who's buried in the grave, but we do know that the stone has a really really long history. How long has this grave and this Kirk (church) been here? This is the Stone Eternal right here. You know they’ve been here forever, but we really don’t talk so much about the fact that this is all connection to people. It’s not just the stone. There was some sort of bond to be in that sort of group, in that company. There’s an old poem by, I think it’s Yeates, who talks about “The Fascination Of That Which Is Difficult”. (soft piano music plays) Well I feel, quite honored really, to be a part of all this. Allowed to be, maybe somebody people come to for advice on these stones and maybe even give them the time they need to show them around and teach them things about the stones and how to do them. The year after my husband died, I returned to the trail at Potarch where the Dinnie Stones are. My daughter and I went to the River Dee there, and that’s where we scattered his ashes and we had a glass of champagne as we did it. There’s just something so organic and sort of, I don’t know, affirming about picking up something that came from the earth and has all this kind of long cultural tradition. To me it’s a spiritual journey in a lot of ways. And it lives on generation to generation. And that’s just how it swells and grows. It’s a small thing. Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. And he goes and the father goes and then he meets somebody and that grows. It’s marvelous to see this. And all these people come together and you know, just a couple of nights ago if you could have seen them all together... it was fantastic. You know. So that’s how it goes and it's very heartening. It’s the myth and the stories and the history around people like Donald Dinnie and the stones. And people that talk about all the different stones and who lifted them and who didn’t lift them, how they lifted them. They’re just rocks to anybody else just walking past, but if you know, you know. If you know the history you know the stories, that’s what makes it awesome. (wind and breeze) (bagpipe warms up) Quick March! Bagpipes play “Scotland the Brave”
I've always wanted to do a stone tour of Scotland. Unfortunately I am nowhere close to being strong enough for some of those fuckers.
Very cool
Just finished this. Loved it. Love learning about the history of strength.