1940s: Robert Crombie Saunders: Poet
Teacher at Kilquhanity
Robert Crombie Saunders was a poet, journalist and teacher. He taught at Kilquhanity at some point in the 1940s probably between 1944 – 1947. A significant figure in the Scottish Literary scene of the 20th century, he wrote in both English and Lallans the vernacular Scots of the lowlands.
In 1944 he edited the Selected Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid. From 1948 – 1953 he edited The Scottish Angler and was angling correspondent for the Daily Herald from ’54 – ’57.
Crombie Saunders was friends with many of the writers of the Scottish Renaissance including: Sydney Goodsir Smith, Sorley McLean, Douglas Young, Alexander Scott, Hugh MacDiarmid and in particular Norman MacCaig who also shared his interest in angling
In 1961 John Aitkenhead must have invited him to Kilquhanity: You can read his reply below.
1st June 1961
My Dear John,
Very glad to get your letter: forgive me for not replying immediately, but my limited energy has been so drawn upon by end of term exams and various quasi-scholastic activities like making a model fishing village, practising two-part songs for the prize giving, trying to persuade 100 small stubby fingers to manipulate recorders, etc., that I have been carrying your letter around for days trying to find time to answer it.
I should dearly have loved to cum to your reunion-cum-this-and-that. If it had been the first week of July, nothing would have stopped me . . .
I sent you a copy of ‘The Year’s green Edge’, along with ‘XXI Poems’, when these were published. . . I like ‘Who Walks With Plover’ too; a subtle, complex little poem, if I says it myself.
Love to you all: and what a pity about August. I have so much I’d like to talk about with you – after my first three years of teaching for the Establishment.
