Monday 6 July
Atlantic Islands Plant Life: A Guided Walk to Ballachuan Hazel Woods led by Seil Natural History Group.
Over 30 people learnt about lichens, wildflowers, hazels, other trees and birds from the expert knowledge of members of the Seil Natural History Group Andy Acton (lichen), Carl Farmer (plants) and Richard Wesley (birds). Ballachuan is a designated site of international importance for its lichen flora, with many species depending on the hazels. These Scottish Wildlife Trust Woods have rich ground flora and are good for breeding birds and summer migrants.
Children’s Gaelic Song Workshop led by Margaret Bennett.
Margaret Bennett is one of our finest singers in Gaelic and English, a storyteller, part-time teacher at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, recipient of numerous international awards and widely regarded as ‘Scotland’s foremost folklorist’. She provided a series of Gaelic Song Workshops in which children learnt songs from their Gaelic heritage and the stories behind them with the aim of providing a flying start to learning Gaelic at Luing Primary School in August 2009.
Margaret and the Blackbirds
The lure of Margaret and the sweet sound
of children learning Gaelic song
charmed the blackbirds off the trees
to perch where sunshine warmed the slates,
and there they sang. Birds and children
filled the air with song and wonder.
Listen to the blackbirds, Margaret said
and bright-eyed children paused to hear
the blackbirds falter, fall silent,
wait to hear Margaret sing again.
by Elizabeth Rimmer, written in response to an event that took place during the children's Gaelic Song Workshops.
White River and Geopoetics: Talk by Jamie Whittle and Discussion.
Jamie Whittle is a writer, environmental lawyer, and outdoor enthusiast and instructor whose talk looked at the project he undertook between 2000 and 2007 exploring and writing about the watershed of the River Findhorn (preparation, the journey, research) and about the inspiration geopoetics and in particular writers such as Kenneth White, Gary Snyder and Sigurd Olson have had upon his writing. One subject was the way in which geopoetics forms the primary connection between the human and non-human world in his book White River published by Sandstone Press, as well as being the bedrock upon which all the other themes in the book are built, and the practical application of geopoetics in terms of how we live in a place and time where there is an increasing focus on sustainability. His talk was then followed by a discussion on (amongst other things) the connection between people and place that can be strengthened through writing.
Time Was Away: Talk by Anne Scott and Discussion.
As a long time member of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, Anne Scott has been involved with its work and that of the Open World Poetics group since 1989. She is a tutor in Shakespeare and in Irish Poets at Glasgow University and is a fascinating speaker. Her talk on "On living out of the world in 'Meeting Point' by Louis McNeice" was very well received and prompted an interesting discussion on how feelings of love relate to geopoetics.
Music Night with Margaret Bennett, Mark Sheridan and Hugh MacQueen.
Margaret Bennett is one of our finest singers in Gaelic and English, a storyteller, part-time teacher at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, recipient of numerous international awards and widely regarded as ‘Scotland’s foremost folklorist’. CD collaborations with her late son, Martyn, feature in theatre and film including ‘The Black Watch’.
She was accompanied on keyboard and percussion by Mark Sheridan who is a leading composer, conductor, broadcaster and senior academic at the University of Strathclyde. His output includes symphonic works, an opera, and chamber works such as When They Lay Bare, The Curve of the Earth and The Flight of the Arctic Tern which premiered at Celtic Connections in 2009 and tours the Highlands in October 19th –24th.
Hugh MacQueen is a former Mod Gold Medallist whose beautiful singing is much loved by the people of Luing where he lives. He always has lovely songs to sing about the Hebridean islands and this was no exception.
The concert was a great success and inspired some of the audience to come again to the nights that followed.
