'The Wey Wae Spaek' - dialect event at Kirbuster Farm Museum

Orkney Islands Council is excited to share an event celebrating the Orkney dialect, taking place at Kirbuster Farm Museum on Saturday 25 July from 2:00-3:30pm.

Titled ‘The Wey Wae Speak’, the event brings together two well-known local voices, Tom Rendall and Neil Leask, for an informal conversation about how Orcadians talk.

The pair will cover a range of topics and delve into some of Orkney dialect's richest sources, exploring everything from farming and the weather to words that were once used every day but have since fallen out of favour, alongside others that have survived, and Norse-rooted place names which are still abundant across Orkney today.

A number of poems in the vernacular will also be recited, which will give the dialect a chance to be heard in its natural, spoken form.

Tom Rendall said:

“Dialect his played a big pairt o me life for a lot o years noo. I wis lucky enough tae get the chance tae dae me PhD thesis on the wey wae spaek. It is important that wae let folk hear the dialect words while Neil and me his a yarn aboot ferming and place neems along wae some poetry fae Chrissie Costie and Robert Rendall.”

Kirbuster Farm Museum provides a fitting backdrop for the conversation. The oldest part of the building, known as the ‘firehoose,’ dates back to at least 1595 and is thought to be the last unrestored example of its kind left in Northern Europe, and has a wealth of objects which have inspired their own local names.

‘The Wey Wae Spaek’ is free, and all are welcome.

Kirbuster Farm Museum is open between 10:30 – 17:00 (closed between 13:00 - 14:00) Monday to Saturday, and 13:00 -17:00 on Sundays during summer.