This children's book helped keep story of Herald Clearances alive

The Herald Scotland

16-05-2025

Or 'I've spent so much time writing my own material for this novel-study or topic, it ought to be published!'
It's perhaps the nature of the job that teachers spend so much time supporting young people's talents, they lose sight of their own. They crave creativity and recognition. Maybe George Bernard Shaw was right: 'He who can, does. He who cannot teaches.' But there isn't a teacher in the land who doesn't find this offensive, especially when shattered at the end of the day or term, those dreams of a publishing deal diminish as they settle into a soft cloud of exhaustion.
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But there are exceptions to the rule and plenty of examples of writers who once were teachers: Roddy Doyle, William McIlvanney and JK Rowling, to name but a few. So, there are role models out there.
As a teacher, now turned writer, there was a wonderful author, who inspired my imagination like no other when it came to stories based on Scottish history. Her name was Kathleen Fidler, and she began her career as a teacher, and went on to write prolifically from the mid 1940s to the 70s, penning the The Desperate Journey and The Boy with the Bronze Axe that are still in publication today.
Her most distinguished book, The Desperate Journey, was part of every primary school in Scotland's senior curriculum from 1970s through to the 1990s. Fred Rendell, the charismatic Head of Inservice at Jordanhill College for Teacher Education was key to inspiring schools to use it as a novel-study, charting the story of the family evicted during the Highland Clearances, travelling to Glasgow to stay in slum tenement dwellings before taking the decision to risk their lives and sail to Canada in hope of a new life.
Kathleen Fiddler's meticulous notes
The journey was fraught with danger and disease. What would become of the family? And what about the way of life they'd left behind in the Highlands? It was a page turner for both teachers and pupils and it covered literacy, numeracy, geography, history, social history, health issues and great debate on the reasons why people were uprooted from their homes in mid 19th century Scotland and forced to seek a living elsewhere.
It is a story that resonates today with the boat people, war refugees and those living in Gaza, being threatened to leave their homeland to make way for luxurious developments along the Mediterranean coast.
I recently met up with Kathleen Fidler's granddaughter, Izzy Rimmer, at the National Library of Scotland, to find out more about her grandmother, and what had inspired her, as an English woman, to write so evocatively about this period of Scottish history.
'She began her career as a teacher in Wigan and she became a head teacher before she was 30 years old. She married a Scottish banker and came to live in Midlothian and, frustrated that she could no longer teach as a married woman at this time, she turned her talents to writing, particularly Children's Drama for the BBC Scotland Home Broadcasting service in Edinburgh.
The scripts were initially the plays she had written and staged with the children in Wigan,' Izzy explained. 'She found the children so inspired by the true story of Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army passing through Wigan, that she wrote a script about this that was performed to great enthusiasm from parents, children and the local community. This script was later to become the novel The White Cockade Passes that was published in 1947. From then on, she wrote at least one novel or drama script a year, and she kept meticulous notes on each submission.'
We examined, in her own meticulous handwriting, a list itemising the title of her work, the date it was completed, who it was sent to, the cost of postage, the reply she had received whether accepted, returned or rejected and most significantly, how much she was paid. 'My grandmother's record-keeping was so methodical and was even completed for each tax-year!' added Izzy astonished.
As we continued to examine the original manuscript for The Desperate Journey, we noticed that it was originally written as a 6-episode script that was broadcast at 5pm on a Sunday, on the BBC's Home Service Children's Hour. It was such a success the producer, Ian Wishart, encouraged Kathleen to publish it as a book. Indeed, she dedicated it to him, and we could see the detailed annotations involved in redrafting the original script into the narrative that became the novel.
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'Oh, she always spoke so highly of Ian,' remembered Izzy fondly, 'she was in awe of him, as a young producer with a background in dramatic arts, and the fact that he championed her work. This was a real boost to her as an older married woman.'
And what did Izzy remember most of her granny Kathleen who passed away in 1980? 'She would visit us in England and she was great fun, telling me and my sister the most wonderful stories. We got the best out of granny, as my mother said she was so busy writing and researching that she didn't have so much time for her.'
But it was in her last decade that Izzy felt her granny really excelled. 'I remember her coming down from Scotland to meet her publishers, doing presentations and attending author soirees. As a teenager, when I'd call her to ask how she was, she'd say, 'I've been out 9 nights out of 7'. She was active until the end.'
As we finished looking at treasure trove of hand-written records and type-written scripts, I was struck by the determination of Kathleen Fidler to be a successful writer. This was no side hustle; it was a real career choice, and she was known for her assiduous research and eye for detail on each subject she chose.
She was my motivation to write books inspired by pivotal moments in Scottish history, peopled with real characters encountering real difficulties. And of course, to be enjoyed by teachers and pupils alike. In a way, she made history come alive. My first book for children, Vikings and Skylarks on Cumbrae, set in 1263 in the run up to the Battle of Largs, was published in 2022 and it makes my day when I visit schools and teachers tell me how much they enjoy doing is as a novel study with pupils.
My latest book, Smugglers' Midnight Escape is set in the 1760s, when King George's harsh taxation policies forced traders from the Ayrshire coast to smuggle everyday goods to the islands, risking their lives. It's aimed at the 9-14 age range.
I had to wait until I retired to devote my time to writing, but I hope like Kathleen Fidler, my final decade is the one that I excel in: meeting publishers for lunch; being out 9 nights out of 7. Not even George Bernard Shaw would begrudge that.
Kathleen Fidler's books available from Floris, www.florisbooks.co.uk/
Maura McRobbie's books available from: www.mauramcrobbie.com and www.amazon.co.uk