Monthly Archives: January 2009

Put your Burns Supper on the map – your village, Mount Aconcagua or Ben Nevis

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Piping the HaggisA new website – BurnsSupper2009 – has been created to capture everyone’s plans for celebrating this landmark Burns Night and establish a new World Record for the greatest number of Burns suppers ever held. So far more than 670 suppers have been registered so if you have not recorded your event – now is the time to do it.

Every supper registered will be flagged on an interactive world map – demonstrating the global reach of Burns today. The site provides a range of Burns material: a step by step guide to hosting a Burns supper complete with menu ideas from some of Scotland’s leading chefs, invitation templates, poems, songs, film clips and music downloads.

Chris Dunlop - highest haggis eaterPaul Bush, of Event Scotland says they are also looking for some zany responses: ‘We hope to hear of a vast array of different celebrations including the largest ever Burns supper and perhaps the highest, such as one held on the top of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina last year.” This odd record was created by Chris Dunlop from Paisley (pictured), who will eat his haggis on the top of Ben Nevis this year.

Haggis sales world-wide have soared as an unexpected by-product of Homecoming 2009, as a record number of sometimes weird and wonderful Burns suppers are taking place. Haggis producers Stahley’s and Macsween have benefited from the launch of a Homecoming campaign to create the world’s biggest Burns Supper Celebration, and the launch of a new website. Ken Stahley says: ‘We are seeing record sales of our Burns supper pack, particularly in Canada’.

If you are involved in a Burns Supper anywhere this one is for you. The World Famous Burns Supper Celebration intends to unite both experienced Burnsians and Burns novices around the world encouraging them to come together online, registering their celebrations – big, small, traditional or unusual. The aim is to show the world that Burns’ legacy is still alive and kicking today and that his message of friendship and Auld Lang Syne lives on, joining people all over the world.

Reporter: Mark Morpurgo

And the winner of the Moorcroft art nouveau ‘White ladies’ vase raffled by Helensburgh’s Hill House is…

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Eric Knowles, the respected BBC’s Antiques Roadshow director was responsible for arranging an eye-catching fundraiser for Hill House in Helensburgh. Knowles has described the Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed house as ‘the jewel in the crown of the National Trust for Scotland’,

The White Ladies Vase, a beautiful Mackintosh-inspired vase by one of Moorcroft Pottery’s leading designers, Nicola Slaney, was the prize in a raffle to raise funds for Hill House. The vase was donated by Moorcroft, of which Knowles is also a director.

The vase is worth over £2,000 and references Mackintosh’s famous Glasgow rose and art-nouveau female figures. Mr Knowles says: ‘I was very impressed with The White Ladies design, which instantly reminded me of Mackintosh’s ‘kimono’ cabinet in which these shrouded ladies appear. Designer Nicola Slaney has created a most fitting interpretation, in my opinion.

Well, the draw took place and news of the winner eventually emerged – and the lucky winner is centenarian Dan Orr from Edinburgh.

Update on dates for 2009 Hydro Connect Music Festival at Inveraray

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DF concerts have indicated that the dates given in For Argyll’s recent news item for the 2009 Connect Festival  – 4th, 5th and 6th September – are correct at the time of publication.

Neither the Argyll Estates – with their own volume of print publications now going forward on the basis of these dates – nor For Argyll has any reason to doubt these dates.

However, For Argyll notes that DF Concerts have neither made a public announcement themselves of the dates they have given to the Argyll Estates nor updated the official website to show the 2009 dates.

Full confirmation should be sought from the promoters – DF Concerts – with the hope that their contactability and response times are better than For Argyll has experienced.

Fellow Highlands MSPs join Jamie McGrigor’s campaign to continue Bull Hire scheme

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Highland MSP, Jamie McGrigor is progressively gaining ground in his efforts to ensure some form of effective continuation of Scotland’s Bull Hire scheme.

The Labour group at Holyrood tabled an amendment from Sarah Boyack at Holyrood yesterday, calling for a continuation of the Bull Hire Scheme and this was accepted late in the debate by the Scottish Government.

The move follows a cross party letter from Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives seeking discussions with the Government on securing a way forward for the Bull Hire Scheme.  Ministers in Parliament yesterday signalled they were prepared to have such discussions.

Following an announcement by the Scottish Government that they were to scrap the scheme – which provides healthy bulls to groups of crofters and small farmers – Peter Peacock, Rhoda Grant and David Stewart were part of a vigorous campaign to save it.  They, Jamie McGrigor and fellow Highlands MSP campaigner on the issue, Dave Thompson, received responses from hundreds of crofters from the Western Isles, Skye and Lochalsh, the Argyll Islands, Lochaber, Ross-shire, Shetland and Badenoch and Strathspey.

Rhoda Grant is  herself the daughter of a Wester Ross crofter, and acting Labour spokesperson on rural affairs. She says: ‘Yesterday, in Brussels, I had meetings with Commission Officials who made clear that the Bull Hire Scheme could continue well into the future under the current arrangements.  Against that background I give a cautious welcome to what appears to be some movement from the Government on this important issue but we will need much more detail before we can make a judgement on any replacement scheme and  I hope that leads to a reversal of their position to date.

‘There is widespread dismay at the effects scrapping it would cause and the onus is on the government to find a way in which it can work. Its loss would have a detrimental effect on crofters’ and farmers’ ability to keep cattle in our most fragile areas and where it had continued there would have been an impact on the health and quality of stock.

‘This scheme has many benefits and as well as offering continued support to those keeping livestock I am hopeful that this will secure the jobs of those highly skilled staff who are involved in providing the bull hire scheme’.

Traditional Music Concert, Strathlachlan

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At 7.00pm on 6th February 2009, Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop is hosting a traditional music concert at Strathlachlan Village Hall in Cowal.

Acclaimed Gaelic singer Anne Martin and clarsach player Ingrid Henderson will just have completed an Argyll schools tour on the afternoon of the concert, but have kindly agreed to stay on to give parents and local residents a taste of what the children had been enjoying all week.

Anne is an ideal singer for non-Gaels as she regales us (in English!) with the stories behind the songs. She, and multi-instrumentalist Ingrid, have made regular appearances on Gaelic TV and radio, and their CD was said to have ‘found another level of energy and creativity, producing a recording that is dynamic, flowing, even gushing, with life’. It is nothing short of a joy to listen to a singer who craves the song, who sings with animation and feeling whilst enunciating with clarity. There are songs on this CD the words of which cover the spectrum of emotion and that is what you get. Anne’s singing is firmly grounded in the Gaelic tradition, truthful and engaging, assertive and sensitive.

Ingrid’s clarsach playing has everything you could hope for – melody, rhythm, colour, resonance, pluck, introspection when needed: ‘here the clarsach is no demure, caged song bird fit only for brightening the domestic realm with softly spoken confidences, it soars and flutters like the lark above the croft.’ Ingrid is a musician of quite outstanding calibre, a virtuoso in terms of sensibility and it is little wonder that she is the accompanist of choice for so many contemporary traditional Gaelic singers.

Anne and Ingrid will be joined by Sarah Naylor, who teaches fiddle in five local schools, and is tutor to Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop, with Douglas Millar on keyboards.

Sarah attended Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic college on Skye, and her assured and technically accomplished playing saw her win the prestigious 2005 Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship at Blair Athol Castle. Sarah graduated with First Class Honours from Strathclyde University, and she was a finalist in the Young Traditional Musician of the Year Awards. Her performance has been described in the Scotsman as ‘a rewardingly varied mix of traditional material and classic composition, displaying admirable control and assurance across the full gamut of pace and mood.’

Douglas Millar is in great demand as a session musician and has played on albums by, amongst others, Stuart Cassels, The Tannahill Weavers, and Rachel Hair. He has been an active member of the prestigious music charity ‘Live Music Now’ for three years and has performed across the UK.

To encourage all schoolchildren to bring their parents and families all children will get in free – and a line up of fiddle, keyboards, clarsach and song will attract a strong audience to this attractive community hall.

Strathlachlan Village Hall. Friday 6th February at 7.30 p.m. ALL SCHOOLCHILDREN FREE.(Adults £7.00) Tickets from 01301 703504 or email administration@fiddleworkshop.co.uk

There are more details on Cowal/Argyll music and other events at Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop.

Reporter: Mark Morpurgo

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Helensburgh’s Homecoming Pipes and Dancers

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Helensburgh Highland dancersHelensburgh’s annual Pipe Band Championship has been part of the town’s  events programme since 2002. It has grown in popularity, stature and prestige each year, attracting  pipe bands and highland dancers from the UK, Europe and the USA.

As a full partner in Homecoming 2009, the organisers are hopeful of a greater than usual attendance. The grant will made an enormous difference to their ability to market the events, in particular it has enabled them to set up a dedicated web site which is already bringing in numerous enquiries regarding accommodation and the area. They hope to double the number of visitors to 5000, and impact more on the local economy. ‘We are extremely grateful to have been put forward by Argyll & Bute Council for this partnership and extremely honoured that Homecoming Scotland 2009 has approved the partnership’, Colina told me.

Colina Helen Campbell and her volunteer committee have worked tremendously hard, but stress that the events could only happen with the involvement of ‘competitors, volunteers, artistes and committee members  from the whole of the Helensburgh & Lomond area, plus Dunoon where I originate from myself.’

Burntisland Pipe Band at HelensburghMost volunteer groups are motivated by bringing benefits to residents and visitors, but it is the individual and personal feedback that really keeps people sacrificing so much time and effort. For this group one particular comment stays in their minds from last year: ‘an old soldier from Erskine Home, after watching the massed pipebands  asked his carer to push his wheelchair over to where I stood, struggled to his feet and shook my hand.  “Thank you for the best organised event ever, you have done Scotland proud. The pipebands, the Argylls Army cadets and you have made my trip here worthwhile.  I will be back next year”.’

Events held between 19th and 21st June include a Burns Supper and Ceilidh with Hall for Leather, a local folk/ rock fusion band, a display of pipe bands and highland dancing, parade, competitions, trade stalls, a barbeque and children’s entertainment.

On Saturday 28th February there will be a great taster for what is in store at a fund raising concert and ceilidh with Hell for Leather, supported by the Helensburgh & District Pipe Band and the Margaret Rose Highland Dancers. This will be the 3rd annual concert and ceilidh. Each year it grows in popularity with over 200 people attending last year – despite it being the stormiest night of the year with roads flooded and public transport cancelled.

Further details of all these events can be found on the website or by phone at 0750 8941998.

Reporter: Mark Morpurgo

Photographs: Derek Prescott. The lower photographs shows the Burntisland Pipe Band at the Helensburgh Championships on a previous occasion.

Concert & Ceilidh at Helensburgh

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On Saturday 28th February there is fund-raising concert and ceilidh at 7.30pm in Helesnburgh’s Victoria Halls. This will be a great taster event for what is in store at the Bi-centenary Pipe Band Championship in June, which is part of Argyll’s programme for Homecoming Scotland 2009. Hall for Leather will be supported by the Helensburgh & District Pipe Band and the Margaret Rose Highland Dancers.

This will be the 3rd annual concert and ceilidh. Each year it grows in popularity with over 200 people attending last year – despite it being the stormiest night of the year with roads flooded and public transport cancelled.

A tale of two protests – and a tale of none

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A protest rally was planned for Holyrood for this afternoon (21st January) by the Liberal Democrats against the Scottish Government’s proposed forest leasing scheme. This is one of the lowest points in the history of an honourable party embedded in Scotland’s political culture. It has been one of the worst examples of a campaign aimed at political advantage, run in flagrant misuse of the facts and counter to the inerests of the taxpayer.

For Argyll has reported on this matter regularly and has named and shamed the perpetrators – which now incude rhe Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Tavish Scott.

The flag of protest has been run up the poles of loss of jobs, loss of authority for Forestry Commission Scotland and loss of forest amenities and access for the general public.

None of these are true. Environment Minister Michael Russell has given the most secure and absolute guarantees on all of these matters to everyone concerned.

But in these times of economic hardship and fears for the future it is easy to raise anxieties and protest by disinformation and by frightening the vulnerable by groundless claims that their jobs are at risk. This is dishonourable and stains the already shabby fabric of political life.

The guarantees have been specific, repeated, public and recorded. Michael Russell’s and the Scottish Government’s integrity could not more clearly be on the line. It is inconceiveable that the assurances so resolutely given are less than the facts. But hey, who cares about the facts when there might be votes to be grubbed for.

Elsewhere, in Iceland, when their parliament reconvened today, thousands protested outside the building, demanding that the Icelandic government step down and that early elections be held. The demonstration began at noon yesterday and ran into the small hours today (21st January).

This is a country which is in serious financial crisis and against whom the UK used anti-terrorist legislation to seize the UK-held assets of the troubled Iceland banks. Kaupthing Bank is suing the UK’s Financial Services Authority over its actions in this respect, claiming that its actions forced the bank into administration which might otherwise have been avoided. The Kaupthing action has the backing of the Icelandic Government which is prepared to take the matter to Europe if necessary.

While Icelanders protest at a financial crisis they are living through, the depth of which we cannot imagine – yet – Scots are romping around making idiots of themselves at Holyrood protesting on false premises.

And it’s not as if there aren’t enough causes just now crying out for committed and selfless protest:

  • The UK Government is about to send substantially more troops to Afghanistan
  • It is keeping a minimal military presence in Iraq for no reason than avoiding the holding of a public enquiry here into why we went into Iraq in the first place. The Government has decreed that such an enquiry will be held but will not take place as long as we still have soldiers (of an unspecified number) in Iraq.
  • And there’s Gaza, where new tungsten Dime bombs have been used unnecessarily against the Palestinians, inflicting injuries which are currently untreatable.

These are real things to protest about rather than be gulled into playing the part of pawns in schoolyard political games.