On 29th October Helensburg’s Hermitage Academy hosts Argyll Rhapsody, a teenage take on culture in Argyll and Bute, with music, ‘fashion’ and photography.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Royal National Mod, Oban
The Royal National Mod – the premier national for the traditional arts of the Gaelic culture – including music, song, dance, recitation and storytelling – comes to Oban in the lands of the Gaels for Homecoming Scotland 2009.
Junior Piping and Drumming Competition 2009 – Inveraray
This competition had been part of the Inveraray scene in the past but had lapsed. It was revived three to four years ago and has since gone from strength to strength.
Held in Inveraray Primary School, this is one of the few piping competitions for juniors to include drumming. Last year’s event saw competitors travel to the Argyll town from Northern Ireland and from Edinburgh to take part. This year the entry – for the contest on 4th April – looks like being around 150.
Cowalfest – walking and the arts
Cowalfest 2009 runs from 9th-18th October in various venues throughout the Cowal peninsula. Gifted with much of the old Argyll Forest, with a major walking trail – the Cowal Way and with the majestic Benmore Botanical Gardens, an outdoor festival could not provide better support for a marriage with the arts.
This annual event is included in Argyll’s programme for Homecoming Scotland 2009.
Bute’s Island Time Bridge
Great to see Argyll’s Ise of Bute mounting an imaginative, ambitious and complex project as part of Argyll’s contributon to Homecomong Scotland 2009. Island Time Bridge will run throughout the summer from 1st June to 27th September.
It will be the result of a marriage of art, landscape and archaeology and of seroius efforts to make contacts with and draw upon the experience of historical Scottish diaspora communities in Canada and Australia.
Discover Bute Landscape Partnership along with the Step Up Project will run an arts and culture programme of events and workshops throughout the summer, themed around emigration (Canada and Australia) and will have two parts;
- One is a digital interactive photographic and sound exhibition portraying contemporary life on Bute contrasted with life on Scotland Island NSW, Australia. This is an Artist-led project with the involvement of the local community.
- The other is the Giant – a mega-festival of activities, workshops and happenings finishing with three large scaleoutdoor events. Working with the ‘Big Man Walking’ team the Giant will interact and take part in Flag and Banner waving, Puppets and Lantern procession and will open the new Tramway all-access pathway to Ettrick Bay. The route will have events and performances examining and marking the history of the island’s emigration. This project will be actively seeking links with similar communities in Canada and Australia.
This event is part of Discover Bute Landscape Partnership’s Archeological Research project. The Giant will lead the procession along the 2.5mile time corridor passing events and happenings highlighting the island unique archeological and cultural heritage. The route will encourage the elebration of the island’s migration and emigration over the years.
Tarbert Music Festival
18th-20th September sees the Tarbert Music Festival, spilling out around this picturesque Loch Fyneside port from hotels on to the harbourside. This events is part of Argyll’sprogramme for Homecoming Scotlnad 2009.
Camanachd Cup Shinty Final
Oban’s Mossfield Park is the scene for Homecoming Scotland 2009′s national shinty final, the Camanachd Cup – at 3.00pm on 19th September.
Ignore media reports – For Argyll and Alan Reid MP have ensured that there will be no analogue radio switchoff in Argyll or the Highlands
Some of today’s national media are reporting on the coming switch to digital radio, involving switching off the currrent analogue signal across the country. This immediately kills off AM and FM radio, leaving listeners with no choice but to buy a Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio Continue reading
Survey of open spaces in five major Argyll communities needs your help
Consultants are carrying out a survey of open spaces for Argyll and Bute Council in five major communities: Ardrishaig/Lochgilphead, Campbeltown, Dunoon, Oban and Rothesay.
Some people may have seen the hard copies of the survey questionaire but it is now available online.
If these surveys are to have any real value they need as many returns as possible – from private individuals, volunteers, community and voluntary organisations. If you live in any of the areas concerned, please find time to complete it and tell as many other people and organisations as you can about it.
More details about the survey – as well as the online version – can be found on the web site.
Official opening of Rothesay Pier and Harbour Development
The official opening of the Rothesay Pier and Harbour redevelopment will be carried out by the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, Stewart Stevenson, at 2.30pm on Saturday 7th February.