Cowal Family Gathering

The Cowal Family Gathering at Strachur on Sunday 30th August was an afternoon to wind down, to relax, to savour quieter, more intimate music along with afternoon tea. This event was part of the Gathering Around programme, led by Cowalfest, supported by Homecoming Scotland and mounted alongside the Cowal Gathering to spread the sense of carnival  to th town of Dunoon and to Cowal at large.

An event with a distinctly retro feel, afternoon tea at the Cowal Family Gathering had music by Lucy and Gordon Neish and a chance to take part in some crafty activities or have faces or arms painted.

Harpist Cheyenne Brown, more usually accompanied by Seylan Baxter on cello (the two came together for their first gig at Cowalfest  2005) was accompanied by Dave Currie on Dobro guitar. Another first, but given the requests for CDs, the combination was successful. It won’t be the last appearance of these two musicians together. The unusual combination of instruments worked well, wooing the audience with their Scottish and Appalachian melodies.

An opportunity to paint your Cowal Gathering Memories with artists Jean Bell and Don McNeil saw a steady stream of potential artists anxious to record the landscape in paint, while others walked off their cream fairy cakes and delicious chocolate sponge by strolling to the Smiddy to watch a metalworking demonstration.

Here Ian Wade regaled his visitors by tales of horse shoeing and blacksmithing while he vigorously pumped the bellows and heated a piece of metal, destined to be a poker, in the forge.

At the historic church members of the historical society were on hand with photographs and stories about the building and the medieval stones. One visitor from Bournemouth, whose ancestors had come from the area, was dismayed by the restyling of the building over a century ago.

Nor were children forgotten with the local-based Walking Theatre Company leading a Heritage-Lottery-funded Celtic Tree walk in the surrounding woodlands for a wide age group of children.

The day, and the Gathering Around events couldn’t have ended without more pipers and the piper from Strachur and District Pipers, who had played during the afternoon at hall, Smiddy and church, was joined by three others for a Cowal Farewell. Flags of the nations were again paraded and then lowered to the haunting tones of the pipes drifting over the village and loch.