Some information about us

DEAR FRIEND,
Our names are Igor Kravchuk and Eugene Lukashuk. We have some similarities in our biographies. For example: we were born in 1996 in Ukraine, Rivne. At age of six we began studying at school number 15. Both of us adore football and our  favourite club “Real Madrid”, also we like play computer games and to have a rest and fishing.

Eugene is the best football player in our class. He likes cats, he has 3 cats at home. He adore history and he has a great memory, his hobbie is football and strategic games(one of them is “The Cossacks”)

Igor is the best basketball player in our class, for your information his hobbie is basketball and computer game “Counter-Strike” , he likes dogs that’s why he has 2 dogs at home.

Dear Friend!

Our names are Igor and Eugene. We are pupils of 10th form, we study in specialized school number 15 with foreign languages bies and we have lesson which called "United Kingdom country study", so we 
have a task to find a pen friend from United Kingdom, that why we write you this letter. For your information we live in Ukraine, Rivne. I am eager to tell you that I and my friend Eugene visited Scotland year before in summer, and i have to tell you that we got a satisfaction from this trip. We hope to hear you.

Your friends, Igor and Eugene.

Edinburgh - Capital Of Scotland

The city is basically split into two main districts the Old Town and the New Town with Princes Street Gardens separating them.

The Old Town is the largely medieval heart of Edinburgh in which most of its important historical monuments can be found including Edinburgh Castle.

The New Town more a celebration of business order and classical Georgian architecture. This is the terrain of the shops offices and banks. Princes Street just below George Street is the main shopping area of Edinburgh and the most famous part of the New Town. A very busy spot its views of the Castle and proximity to the park happily make up for the crowds of shoppers.

Princes Street Gardens fill the valley between Old Town and New Town with Princes Street itself lining the northern side. In Princes Street Park you never escape the atmospheric sound of the bagpipes though you can escape the hustle and bustle of Princes Street itself.

The city Edinburgh has a year round programme of festivals and events ranging from the world famous summer festivals to the worlds biggest New Year street party.

In Edinburgh the world ranking museums and galleries tell the story of a fascinating past mixed with contemporary exhibitions. Choose from national collections and international blockbusters to more intimate spaces and exhibits.

The city of Edinburgh has a Playhouse with a colourful history. It was designed by Glasgow architect John Fairweather as a variety theatre it was largely modelled on the Roxy Theatre in New York but caught up in the new craze sweeping the country, it opened as a cinema on August 1929 with the talkie The Doctors Secret. Owned by the MacGuire family it remained a cinema for 40 years until it fell victim to the cinema slump in 1973. Tender for demolition were invited by advertisement and a Save the Playhouse group was set up who collected a number of signatures against the closure.

In 1974 the Playhouse was given listed building status. In 1975 the Edinburgh Playhouse Society was formed. A second petition brought a further number of signatures, helping tremendously in saving the building. Over the next twelve years the theatre changed hands five times. Until Apollo Leisure took over ownership in December 1985.

In 1993 a major refurbishment was undertaken and The Edinburgh Playhouse was returned to its former glory soon becoming one of the most successful theatres in Britain.

Scotland Flag

FLAG OF SCOTLAND

THE ROYAL FLAG OF SCOTLAND

History of Scotland

The recorded history of Scotland begins in the 1st century AD, when the Romans invaded Britain. The Romans added southern Britain to their empire as the province Britannia. They were unable, however, to subdue the fierce tribes in the north. To keep these tribes from invading Britannia, Emperor Hadrian had a massive wall built across the island from sea to sea. The Romans called the land north of the wall Caledonia, and they called the people Picts--from the Latin piclus, meaning "painted"--because they painted their bodies. Parts of Hadrian's Wall still stand on the Scottish border.

In the 5th century Celtic immigrants from Ireland, called Scots, settled north of the Clyde. The Scots were already Christians when they left Ireland. In the next century St. Columba converted the king of the Picts to Christianity. In the 9th century Kenneth MacAlpine, king of the Scots, added the Pictish kingdom to his own. In about the 10th century the land came to be known as Scotland.

After the Normans conquered England in 1066, many Anglo-Saxons from England settled in the Lowlands of Scotland. Here the Scots gradually adopted English ways. Feudalism was established, and the chiefs of the clans became nobles. Towns grew, trade increased, and Scotland prospered.

In 1290 Margaret, heiress to the throne, died. Thirteen claimants contested the Crown. Edward I of England claimed the right to bestow it and made John de Baliol king. When Edward asked John for help against the French, however, John entered into an alliance with France. For 260 years Scotland held to this so-called "auld alliance" with England's enemy.

Edward crossed the border in 1296, took John de Baliol prisoner, and proclaimed himself king of Scotland. To symbolize the union he carried off the ancient Stone of Scone, on which Scottish kings had long been crowned, and placed it in Westminster Abbey where it lay beneath the coronation chair.

The Scots rose again. Led by William Wallace, they routed the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297 and pursued them across the border. The next year Edward returned and inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Scots at Falkirk. Wallace was later captured and executed, and the English hung his head from London Bridge. This part of the history of Scotland was the foundation for the film "Braveheart".

The Scots' spirit was still unbroken, and they soon found another great champion in Robert the Bruce. The last great battle in the war for independence was fought in 1314 at Bannockburn near Stirling Castle. There Bruce inflicted a disastrous defeat on superior English forces led by Edward II. In 1328 Edward III formally recognized Scotland's independence.

In the later Middle Ages, Scotland suffered from weak kings and powerful nobles. For two centuries there was a constant struggle between the Crown and the barons. Border clashes with England also continued. James IV of Scotland married Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of England, in 1503. When Henry VIII went to war with France in 1512, however, James IV invaded England. He fell, "riddled with arrows," at Flodden Field in the last great border battle (1513).

James V died brokenhearted after his army had been slaughtered at Solway Moss (1542). The throne went to his infant daughter, Mary Stuart.

Meanwhile the Protestant Reformation had swept across Europe and into England. Scotland was still a Roman Catholic country. Its young queen, Mary Stuart, was in France when John Knox returned home to Scotland from Geneva, Switzerland. Knox was a follower of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Reformation. With fiery eloquence he spread Calvin's Protestant doctrine. Knox and others drove Mary out. In 1560 Scotland's parliament adopted a confession of faith drawn up by Knox and established the Church of Scotland on a Presbyterian basis.

When Mary returned to Scotland in 1561, she was imprisoned and forced to abdicate her throne. She escaped, however, and fled to England. Queen Elizabeth I made her a prisoner and finally had her executed.

Mary Stuart's son, James VI, was brought up as a Presbyterian. When Queen Elizabeth of England died in 1603, James inherited the throne of England. This is an important point missed by many historians - it was the Scottish king who took over the English throne, not the reverse. In England he was called James I. The two nations were thus united under a single king, but Scotland remained a separate state with its own parliament and government.

England tried repeatedly to impose the Anglicans' episcopal form of worship and church government on the Scottish kirk. The Scots took up arms against Charles I. When civil war broke out in England, they aided the Puritans against the king. After Oliver Cromwell executed Charles I without consulting the Scots, however, the Scots welcomed Charles's son as Charles II. Cromwell then marched into Scotland and imposed his rule. When Charles II was restored to the throne, persecution of Presbyterians continued.

Finally, after James II had been driven from the throne, Presbyterianism was firmly established as Scotland's national church. The Highlanders long remained loyal to the exiled Stuarts. In 1715 they attempted to restore the house of Stuart to the throne; James Stuart, known as the Old Pretender, was proclaimed James III. In 1745 they supported his son, Charles Edward, known as the Young Pretender and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Young Pretender's quest for the throne ended in 1746 at the battle Culloden when the Highland forces were defeated by the English.

The age-old rivalry between Scotland and England ended formally in 1707 when the parliaments of both nations agreed to the Act of Union. This act merged the parliaments of the two nations and established the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Scotland now had free trade with England and the colonies. As Britain's empire expanded the Scots played a great part in its development. They also shared in the inventions that brought about the Industrial Revolution and in the wealth that flowed into Britain from it.

The end of the 18th century has been called Scotland's most creative period. David Hume won world fame in philosophy and history, Adam Smith in political economy, and Robert Burns in poetry. In the next generation Sir Walter Scott made the land and history of Scotland known throughout the world. During this period the Scots were also pre-eminent in establishing the fledgling colonies in America, Canada and Australia.

From that time on, the history of Scotland merges with that of the rest of the United Kingdom but Scots continued to play a part in world affairs far greater than their numbers might suggest. Legal and education systems did remain separate (and superior) and in the second half of the 20th century many Scots began to demand a greater say in other areas of government. Eventually a new Scottish parliament was established in Edinburgh and it is currently making its mark.

For more information follow this link: http://www.heritage-of-scotland.com/hist.htm