USA 250 Special – The Ulster-Scots Contribution!

Helen Mark MBE presents BBC Radio Ulster’s weekly Ulster-Scots magazine this week alongside Rab Lennox, Jonnie Crawford and Willie Hill. Kintra has been sharing stories that link Ulster-Scots (or ‘Scots Irish’) with the Declaration of Independence – which was adopted in the U.S 250 years ago (plus one day!)
We’ve four fresh tales this week that take us around the province – and across the pond, of course. Helen heads to Kilkeel - where the local Schomberg Society commissioned a play, The Lang Road Tae Liberty, to be performed by the P7’s of Kilkeel Primary School. Willie finds himself on The Shankill Road in Belfast speaking to some of the folk behind a new USA 250 themed mural. Jonnie’s chat takes him to Dervock – which is just one part of Ulster with a very strong connection to a U.S president – in this case William McKinley. Also - Rab catches up with Deirdre Speer-Whyte for an update on her project which plans to shine a light on some of the women who contributed to the development of the USA as we know it.
As always, listeners are invited to contact the programme with a good Ulster-Scots yarn or event to talk about. The easiest way to do that is by email – helen.mark@bbc.co.uk