The Orkney Image Library
No: 25496 Contributor: Colin Cooper Year: 2011
Help us get organised! If we haven't correctly identified which area this picture is best listed under, please select it below and click Done!
1938. John Shearer taken at front of Swanney's shop in Stronsay village. He was known locally by the nickname Jeck o Pye. I am sure some of the older Stronsay folk will remember him. Note the big box with matches at the back.
Picture added on 17 August 2011 at 12:56
I remember being scared of him, Colin. He used to chase us waving his stick!! That was obviously a long time after this photograph was taken. I never knew his real name.
Added by Freda Jackson on 17 August 2011
Was he one of the Feastown Shearers?
Added by Irene Flett Cameron on 27 August 2011
Yes, he was from Feastown. I remember him humming "The Cock o' the North" as he walked up the road. He couldn't speak properly and "pye" was his word for "boy". Jeck o Pye was his attempt at saying his name - Jack, boy.
Added by Bertha Fiddler on 29 August 2011
So he would be related to me- my dad was tom shearer, my grandparents were peter and alice shearer.
Added by Irene Flett Cameron on 30 August 2011
So who were his parents?
Added by Irene Flett Cameron on 30 August 2011
hi irene,john shearer would have been a brother of your grandad. i remember john his sister annie and niece anna jackson staying at feastown in the 1950s.anna married bob sillers the vet in stronsay at that time.john died and anna and bob left stronsay and went to arran,anna took her aunt annie with them.they have all passed away now.
Added by Colin Cooper on 31 October 2011
He does look like my grandad Peter Shearer from Feastown. Does anyone in Stronsay know why the Shearer family left feastown in 1928. ! would love to know the story.
[Irene's email address can be found by clicking her name, for anyone wanting to reply -Steven]
[Irene's email address can be found by clicking her name, for anyone wanting to reply -Steven]
Added by Irene Flett Cameron on 08 January 2012
Hi Irene, you were wondering about the Shearer family leaving Feastown in 1928. I imagine there could have been a lot of movement among the folk living in the village and lower village as a great number of them would have been connected with the herring fishing. That was seasonal work and then the herring drifters would have moved on.
Added by Colin Cooper on 20 January 2012
Colin thank you for the comment. I was told by my dad that family left because of some scandal that happened - Irene
Added by Irene Flett Cameron on 22 January 2012
Hi Irene. I remember as a schoolboy during the war years a young man in sailors uniform staying at Feastown on leave. His name was Tommy Shearer. He would have stayed with his aunt Annie and cousin Anna Jackson. I remember them visiting at my late mothers house.
Added by Colin Cooper on 22 January 2012
Was possibly my dad. He was in the navy minesweepers. He was stationed out there, and so was my mum, she was in the ATS.
<< back
Added by Irene Flett Cameron on 22 January 2012
People
Lovely photos Colin thanks.