BOSWELL'S GALLOPING FARMERS

A confession: when I was first offered the chance to “do something” with this book by my friend, Rob Close, I wasn’t particularly interested. Rob and his co-editor, Willie Watson, had put together a collection of documents found in Ayrshire farm houses which all related to the infamous Gallipoli campaign of 1915. I wasn’t sure how we could bring together the story using all of the material: two first-hand memoirs, a field diary and a letter home from an officer to his wife.

What changed my mind? I’m not entirely sure but it may have had something to do with memories of the very few stories told by my own grandfathers who had served in a different regiment and a different battlefield. The more detailed memoir, by one Sandy Barclay, was very frank, often brutal and, as I have said, sometimes very funny. Neither of my grandfathers had ever given such details but it was obvious that many of the experiences were common to this generation.

So, with the help of Martin Gallagher, who co-wrote and narrated the episodes, and John Boyd who painstakingly put together the astonishing sound effects, we brought Sandy back to tell us his heroic story.