As promised in my previous post last week here is a entry that talks about a celebratory night for the Black Country that takes its inspiration from Burns Night, afterall as we’ll see it is not the first time that there has been a link between the great Burns and the proud Black Country! First published over on the ibostin website (http://www.ibostin.com/black-country-day-–-shenstone-night/) on the 21st August 2009 it now seems highly relevant to showcase Philip Tibbetts’ idea over here on Heartland Heritagewear!

Burns Night is traditionally a celebration of Scotland’s most famous poet, whereupon you get to have a very nice meal of traditional food along with lashings of traditional drink (in this case haggis and whisky respectively). As well as all this culinary indulgence the mind and soul get stimulated with ritualised readings of some of Burns’ great poems.

What many people don’t realise is Burns’ relationship with the Black Country, or more precisely with one particular contemporary YamYam; William Shenstone. Shenstone was a poet who came from Halesowen and still has a notable legacy within the town even if he is largely unknown outside of it. There are two things that link these two men besides their profession and the era in which they lived. Although Shenstone’s poetry has not passed in history with the same importance that Burns’ did, it was admired at the time and by Burns himself no less – who positively raved about the quality of the work and of the skill Shenstone possessed.

A second link has come to light more recently pointing out the strong similarities in some of Burns’ work to the works of Shenstone. (http://tinyurl.com/ye7paae) There is some debate over whether this was Burns plagiarising or whether he was inspired by Shenstone. Whatever the case it does seem like there was certainly a tangible if literary link between the two men and as such between our two regions.

I for one do not mind at all quite which of the two possible sides of the inspiration debate is correct, I am just proud of the relationship. Indeed it has inspired me, and I think that in light of the inspiration Burns’ had he would be happy to return the favour! My inspiration is less literary and more social – to take Burns’ Night as a template and give it a Black Country twist based on this link… Shenstone Night.

As a celebration of creativity I’d envisage the holiday being celebrated on November 18th each year. Instead of Whisky being drunk we could drink the spiritual drink of the Black Country – Mild Ale (and we maybe able to remember more in the morning that way too!) Instead of Haggis we could eat the similar Black Country dishes of faggots or groaty pudding and of course we could read poetry – though I’d argue not just Shenstone’s, but in an effort to look forward as well as back we could read any Black Country poetry and use the night as a showcase. After all one look at the Black Country Bugle will show you that witty rhymes are a staple of Black Country culture.

Now that we have safely navigated the parties of holiday season into 2010 Heartland Heritagewear wishes you all the very best for this coming year. For our part we have some interesting things lined up for 2010 and we will continue in our tradition of proudly and timelessly encouraging pride and enthusiasm in our area through our products.

With the fun of the New Year barely over Donato and Philip found themselves invited to another great night out, this time for Burns Night. Of course this was the perfect occasion to break out the Black Country kilt which Philip wore with great pride, pairing it with a Sheriffmuir jacket, lace jabot and white dress sporran topped with an elegant plain cantle.

Heartland Heritagewear was extremely pleased to be able to contribute a Black Country tartan tie and scarf for the charity auction at the end of the night which over all helped raise over £1000 for multiple sclerosis.

The night was organised by the Midland based kiltwear specialist VanKilter and also had many of the great and good from the Solihull area. We can happily show you this link to the Halesowen News coverage of the story with Philip meeting the Mayor of Solihull, who was very interested in the sentiment and meaning behind the design: http://www.halesowennews.co.uk/news/4875237.Philip_shows_off_his_tartan_at_Burns_Night_event/

In honour of this great night we will publish on the Heartland Heritagewear site an idea for a social symbol for the Black Country inspired by Burns Night! Keep your eyes peeled for over the next few days – Slàinte!

Christmas is almost upon us and that of course brings the obligatory festive postal rush! Here at Heartland Heritagewear we will guarantee a Christmas delivery for all orders we receive by the end of 18th December. Though any orders we get in after that date we will still do our utmost to get to you in time and will keep those customers informed of our efforts.

Finally it is best to announce that we are running low of some tartan products. We were sure that our products would do well but we have been pleasantly surprised by the demand nonetheless. This does mean that our ability to deliver is now quite dependant on remaining stock – so make sure to snatch up your Black Country winter warmers whilst you can! Don’t forget that our products are now also on sale in The Public museum on New Street, West Bromwich for those passing by.

Well it has been a hectic month or two but we are now on our feet. Hopefully you’ll have seen some of the sizeable press that we have had, though if you did miss any of it do not fear as we will be compiling all our features in a forthcoming news bulletin – and there has really been some good news.

Though for this update we felt that we could illustrate the universal appeal of tartan and how we are leading its development as a real symbol for local identity. Over year since the Halesowen and Black Country tartans went official London is following in our footsteps by launching a competition for their first official plaid. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8385102.stm

Our designer, Philip Tibbetts, has already been hard at work thinking up a design for the capital and we will of course reveal his proposal on here after the deadline for submissions has closed at the end of the year. Though for those of you eager to join in the fun here is a link to the Scottish Tartan Authorities online design tool, and is amazing how much time can pass when you begin tinkering! http://www.tartansauthority-shop.com/croftweaver/index.html#

Finally we can report that Philip also sprang into action after the Scotsman newspaper reported in its coverage of this story, that no town in England had a dedicated tartan. Which of course we all know to be untrue on this site! His letter in reply was published here http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/English-tartan.5879228.jp though it is heavily edited to fit into the newspaper. So to leave you for this news update we can, exclusively for Heartland Heritagewear, reprint Philip’s original letter:

I am writing with regard to Frank Urquhart’s article of the 28^th November called “Have we got trews for you? No, Boris it’s a London kilt” in order to correct a little piece of information as well as offer my opinion on the story.

The article in question states that “until now, not one English town or city has had a tartan specifically crafted in its honour”. Admittedly there are not a lot of English town/city tartans but I know for a fact that the noble town of Halesowen in the Black Country has an official tartan – because I designed and registered it and have made it available to the public at. I am also designing tartans for other towns in the Midlands based on the success that the Halesowen tartan has achieved

From my research I believe that Durham, Berwick, Tweedmouth, Norham & Ladykirk and Sheffield have registered tartans and both Carlisle and York have tartans which have come to represent them over time, albeit in a semi-official capacity at best. Whilst the article does not mention counties it is still worth considering that there are also a fair few official English county tartans (like Black Country, Somerset, Devon) as well as Northumbrian tartan which is the oldest known tartan design.

Other than that I think that the story is great and I fully support the wider adoption of tartan as a medium. After all flags are not seen as exclusively Chinese nor coats of arms as exclusively Italian so whilst tartan can quite rightly be seen as having a strong association with Scotland it need not be exclusively so. Indeed, as with my previous examples I cannot see a reason why communities, counties and countries around the world could not have a representative tartan as it is such a versatile symbol. Not only can it be worn but it can be used as a subtle and tasteful way of promoting identity – for instance the way the University of St Andrews uses their tartan as a stage dressing for its graduation ceremonies. Tartan has been said to be Scotland’s gift to the world and I certainly believe that it has every right to be considered a heraldic art and as valid a symbol as any other. However, some people feel that competitions like this feel cheesy and wonder if that’s all Scotland is good for, but by spreading its wings tartan will transcend such cheesiness and become a truly noble symbol that adds prestige to countries across the world and in doing so to its homeland as well. That is why I am looking forward to creating a design to submit in this competition!

We are the home to the original Halesowen and Black Country tartans, designed by our co-founder Philip Tibbetts. You will find these in our shop, fashioned into products that blend both the best of contemporary design and the timeless elegance of tradition. All made by the best British craftsmen from across the great isle of Albion to ensure the highest possible quality. This ensures that we honour ourselves, our customers and of course the honour of the areas themselves.

Please take a moment to look around our website, where you will find much information about us, our history and what we hope to achieve. We have a strong social ambition to help drive the reclamation of local identity and civic pride, which we intend to do town by town, region by region and step by step – as long as it takes to reinvigorate local and national pride. When you wear one of our products you are marking yourself out as being special, being proud of where you are from and being true to yourself. Enjoy your visit to Heartland Heritage!