Interviews of Douglas Grieve, , 20th century

Identifier	EERC/EL/EL5/1
Interviewer	Fortune, Ailsa
Dates	interview: 2018-06-07 coverage: 20th century
Extent	1 digital audio file(s)
Subject	Childhood Education Sports Working life Gamekeepers Nature Foodways Aberlady Bay Longniddry Musselburgh Gosford House Macmerry Dalkeith Prestonpans Oxenfoord
Interview summary	In this interview, Dougie Grieve (born 1951) talks about his life in East Lothian, especially his working life as a gamekeeper. He begins by speaking a little about his childhood. His father worked for Ferranti and his mother was a ‘tick woman’ for Lawson’s of Musselburgh. Her job was to go round the villages, collecting repayment monies for things people had bought ‘on tick’ before the days of credit cards. Dougie had always loved the land and would often miss school (Longniddry primary and Preston Lodge secondary) to go out and about. He fell into the company of Peter Rennock who would later help him into his first game-keeping job. On leaving school, he was persuaded to do a mechanical engineering apprenticeship at Ferranti and ‘get a trade’. He qualified and worked in several local firms and also Edinburgh University, but very quickly moved into hs first game-keeping post at Oxenfoord Castle Estate, owned by the Earl of Stair. He worked for 23 years at Glenormiston Estate and then, more recently, with Lord Wemyss on the Gosford Estate. Dougie speaks about the life, working conditions and skills involved with game-keeping and reflects on how this job has changed over the decades. Changes in farming practices and changing attitudes to pheasant predators are two areas of change covered here in details. Although primarily concerned with pheasant, Dougie also speaks about other wild foods, including rabbit, salmon, trout and partridge. He also talks a little about his other interests. At one time, he was a very good footballer and was involved with both Lothian Rose (MacMery) and Ferranti Thistle (which became Meadowbank Thistle and then Livingstone FC) but the land always came first for him. Since his teens, Dougie has also been involved with racing pigeons and he speaks about how he got into this sport and how it has changed over time.
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In this interview, Dougie Grieve (born 1951) talks about his life in East Lothian, especially his working life as a gamekeeper. He begins by speaking a little about his childhood. His father worked for Ferranti and his mother was a ‘tick woman’ for Lawson’s of Musselburgh. Her job was to go round the villages, collecting repayment monies for things people had bought ‘on tick’ before the days of credit cards. Dougie had always loved the land and would often miss school (Longniddry primary and Preston Lodge secondary) to go out and about. He fell into the company of Peter Rennock who would later help him into his first game-keeping job.

On leaving school, he was persuaded to do a mechanical engineering apprenticeship at Ferranti and ‘get a trade’. He qualified and worked in several local firms and also Edinburgh University, but very quickly moved into hs first game-keeping post at Oxenfoord Castle Estate, owned by the Earl of Stair. He worked for 23 years at Glenormiston Estate and then, more recently, with Lord Wemyss on the Gosford Estate. Dougie speaks about the life, working conditions and skills involved with game-keeping and reflects on how this job has changed over the decades.

Changes in farming practices and changing attitudes to pheasant predators are two areas of change covered here in details. Although primarily concerned with pheasant, Dougie also speaks about other wild foods, including rabbit, salmon, trout and partridge. He also talks a little about his other interests. At one time, he was a very good footballer and was involved with both Lothian Rose (MacMery) and Ferranti Thistle (which became Meadowbank Thistle and then Livingstone FC) but the land always came first for him. Since his teens, Dougie has also been involved with racing pigeons and he speaks about how he got into this sport and how it has changed over time.

Interviews of Douglas Grieve

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