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Women played an important role in the fishing industry in Scotland; some were employed to bait lines but the majority worked at gutting and curing the catches. When the herring summer season finished at home many fisher lassies travelled down south to catch the autumn herring season in fishing ports like Great Yarmouth or Lowestoft. In this audio extract, a former Caithness fisher lassie recalls her 'kipperin' days. Her name is Chrissie Smith and she was recorded at Dalmore House Eventide Home (Alness) in 1984 as part of reminiscence classes run by the Workers Educational Association.

'Well, I started the fishing when I was fourteen and I was in Wick, an it was at the kipperin, an eh, well, in May. That's when e fishin started. May, it was kipperin till the first o June. Then from June to September, it was the curing. And they finished then on e sixth o September an we went'll Yarmouth then, on e first of October, an we were there then till e first o December. An we came home then and it was the winter fishing, in Wick, wi the kipperin. And then in January, we went till Hull, for e kipperin, doon in Hull, and we wis there fae January till e first o May. Oh, it was a happy life, the fisher lasses is quite - 'They call me the fisherman's lassie, oh!' [Laughter]

'For the fisherman he was a bold young man, he couldn't be any bolder
He weared his sea boots to his knees and the straps across his shoulder
I'm a rumlin tumlin fol de doodle aye
I'm a rumlin tumlin lassie oh
I'm a rumlin tumlin fol de doodle aye
And they call me the fisherman's lassie' [Laughter]