Mintlaw Primary
Mintlaw School is one of two primary schools in Mintlaw. It was built in 1961 and was originally the junior/secondary school for the village - now it has around 168 pupils in Primary 1-7.
Mintlaw is home to Aden Country Park and the Aberdeenshire Farming Museum whose exhibition shows how farming would have been in Annie's time. Annie's is bound to have visited Mintlaw frequently as it's so close to Kininmonth where she lived.
P3/4 New Rhymes - Created by the whole class and Pauline
The P3/4 class learned all about Annie and loved hearing about how she escaped her hard work at home and went off on her bike to collect songs and rhymes
When creating their first rhyme with Pauline, the class decided they wanted to share how fun it is to live in Mintlaw! Here is their first rhyme.
“A Busy Day in Mintlaw”
Mintlaa is far wi bide
Wi ging tae Aden on a lang bike ride
Supper’s Zanres fur chips an fash
Eat it het, so hame we dash!
Syne jammies on – nice an cosy
Aff tae sleep, aifter a bosie!
Everyone had a lot of fun with the second rhyme – what the pupils of P3/4 like… and what they definitely don’t like!
Wi love skweel denners, ice cream, pizza
Picnics in the park
But wi dinna like slugs an spew
An daein oor hamewark!
Here are the P3/4 illustrations of picnics in the park:
Here are some of P3/4s drawings of their Busy Day in Mintlaw - Cycling to the super playpark at Aden Country Park!
The P3/4 class heard some of Annie’s original rhymes and illustrated them!
The rottans and the mice they a’ fell a’strife,
And widna let my meat be until I got a wife,
When I got a wife, my wife she couldna rin,
And I got a hurl barrow, to hurl her oot and in.
The hurl barrow broke and my wife she got a fa’,
Shame gang wi’ the hurl barra, ill-deen wife an a’.
(Annie's original rhyme contained the world "cripple" - a word which may be considered outdated and offensive. It was replaced for the school visits by "ill-deen". The rhyme was considered to be one of Annie's funniest and had to be included in the workshops!)
A Riddle!
Three little ladies a’ clad in white,
Nae use in the mornin’, but a’ in use at night?
(Candles)
Snailie, snailie set oot yer horn,
An I’ll gie ye milk an breid the morn.
Rin and catch the mail coach,
Rin and catch the mail;
Four and twenty gentlemen
Chasin’ at a snail.
P6 New Rhymes - Created by the whole class and Pauline
Pauline and the P6 class learned about Annie, her life, and her love for collecting songs and rhymes. Pauline and the pupils spoke about the differences between how we live today and how Annie and those in the North East of Scotland lived 110 years ago.
The class listed Doric and Scots words they knew on the board, then looked at one of Annie’s original rhymes, translating it and then creating a New Rhyme Fur Auld. Pauline’s visit to Mintlaw was just before the Easter holidays, so the P6 class chose to write about Easter!
All schools taking part in the project worked with this rhyme as we felt that "Fan The Loons an Lassikies Cam Oot Tae Play" would be a fitting subtitle to the project.
The rhyme Annie collected:
Yule has come, and yule has gone,
And we’ve a’ fared weel;
Jockie’s at his flail again,
And Jennie’s at her wheel,
And a’ the loons and lassiekies,
Are back at the skweel.
P4-7’s new rhyme:
Easter’s jist a wik awa
Wi hae twa wiks aff the skweel
We’ll bile oor eggs an paint them bonnie
Hae chocolate fur ivvery meal!
Aifter twa wiks o eatin sic gulsh,
We’ll nae be feelin affa weel
The P6 pupils were keen to tell Pauline what they get up to in their spare time – not just during the Easter holidays. Pauline told them some of the stories she’d heard about Aden and the old mansion house – so that came in to their second rhyme!
Wi ging tae skweel in Mintlaa
Mintlaa’s affa braw
At Aden we play fitba
There’s a festival an aa!
Bit I aence heard twa quinies
Saw a monk in Aden park
The boodie scared the lassikies
Dinna gang there aifter dark!
Annie's Collected Rhymes
New Mintlaw Rhymes
My name is Queen Mary, my age is sixteen,
My father’s a farmer in Auld Aberdeen;
He’s plenty of money to dress me sae braw,
But nae bonnie laddie wil tak me awa!
One morning I rose and looked in my glass,
Said I to mysel’, – What a handsome young lass;
Wi’ my hands at my said I gave a guffaw, -
There’s nae bonnie laddie will tak’ me awa’.
I am a puir wee laddie
I go tae toon tae play ma fitba
But naebiddy will gie mi the ba
Naebiddy plays wi mi ava
The morn came and I hae ma cornflakes
I went tae the toon tae find a wee poster
So I walked a wee closer, It wis a job at Zanres!
by Liam, Jorgie and Merryn
Me and my Grannie, and a great lot mair,
Kicket up a row gaun hame fae the fair;
By cam the watchman and cried, Wha’s there?
Me and my Grannie, and a great lot mair.
Me and my pal and a quine fae the toon
Later on we ended up fechtin fer a loon
Yi shouldni be sae daft as to wear a bow on yir heid
I’ll rip it right oot and then yer scalp will be reid!
by Alyssa, Sadie and Lilly
The auld wives o’ Crichie haud a gey Aiky Fair,
They dance roond the tents wi’ their jiggers a’ bare.
The fairm beasts cam tae the skweel pairty
the burled roon the haa and made athin affa dirty
The yowe did a dunce in his punts
An the ither hand, a tyke wis deen a hike wi Mike!
By Jack S, Ellis and Kesley
The class then split up in to groups to work with Annie’s original rhymes, creating their own versions using the Doric and Scots words they already knew and some words from vocabulary sheets.
See "Resources for Schools" tab to find the vocabulary sheets and sheets used for creating new rhymes in the workshops.
P6 New Rhymes - Created by the pupils in groups
Gi’es my breeks and my jacket, my westcoat and my hose;
And that mak’s a mannie fit for his brose.
I widna hae a taxi driver ava, va, va
I widna hae a taxi driver ava, va, va
For he’s aye awa on trips
And his cab will guff like chips
And I widna hae a taxi driver ava, va, va!
By Quinn, Aleks and Ethan
I widna hae a baker ava, ‘va, ‘va,
I widna hae a baker ava, ‘va, ‘va
For he sits and he cracks
And he burns a his babs
And I widna hae a baker ava, ‘va, ‘va.
Gies ma breeks, ma bunnet, my tackety beets and sark,
I’ll loup on my sheltie an ride aroon at Aden park!
by Alexis, Stephan and Nicholas
