“I have watched the men’s and boy’s Ba’ since I was a peedie lass. My dad is a Ba’ winner and a staunch Uppie player, he came from the Kemp family, and they all play Up and my mum is a Donaldson and came from a very staunch Doonie family and a lot of her brothers have Ba’s, so we were a mixed family.
On Christmas Day, mum would be at one side of the Ba and I would be at the Uppie side and we didn’t speak until it was all over. Mum was a staunch supporter of the Ba’ and she even stopped quite a few smuggles. My dad was very good at smuggling the Ba’ and one particular incident, the pack was on Broad Street and the whole pack had moved away and, where the TSB Bank used to be, mum noticed dad leaning against a wall looking like he was hurt and mum thought, well that wouldn’t stop him, so she went over to him and knew he was up to no good and up the back of his jumper was the Ba’. So, she screamed and the pack and the Doonie players all came and they took the Ba’ away and it went doon when it should have really gone up. Of course, me and my brother, we were maybe in our early teens, very much wanted dad to divorce her because we thought that was more than good grounds for a divorce.
I married Derek who is one of only two non-Orcadian players to have a Ba’. He came here in the late eighties and started playing and I never thought he would get a Ba’! He only played it for the passion, but he is actually on the Ba’ committee now.
We have a daughter and a son and my son is a Boys Ba’ winner Kyle Robb and daughter Shannon is a fanatic. She is married to a staunch Doonie so at the moment they have two children, at least they are both girls because they are Doonie’s of course.
I love all that camaraderie, fun and passion it brings, it is just a wonderful occasion.”
Memory added on December 19, 2025
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