Posts for March, 2022

Local crafts, stalls, raffle Easter bonnet competition

Following the success of our Easter egg hunt last year, we’re gong to do it again a little earlier this year in aid of the Ukraine appeal.

Come and find all the hidden eggs in the Highland Games Park, and put them on your entry. Every child that enters will receive a handmade chocolate egg – until we run out!! Suggested donation for entering – or whatever you can afford – every single penny of the entry donations will go direct to the Ukraine appeal.

At the end of the weekend one lucky entrant will receive an extra special prize – just in time for Easter!!!

The Pagoda will be hosting an auction of promises, a silent auction of goods and one of the most exciting bottle stalls every to be seen! The lots on offer vary from home made cakes and prosecco afternoon tea to a weekend at the luxurious Moray Lodge for 20 people. Come along and show your support for the people of Ukraine whilst having some family fun. Ticket includes refreshments.

The lineup for this year’s Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, one of the world’s most anticipated whisky celebrations, has been unveiled.
Over five hundred events within the Festival, which runs from 27 April to 2 May, have been announced. These will allow ticket holders exclusive access to world famous distilleries, the chance to meet the craftspeople behind the liquid and immerse themselves in the heart of malt whisky country.

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival team gathered yesterday (3 March) with key event partners to reveal some of the events on offer. Tickets will be available to buy on Tuesday 8 March.

Programme highlights include History of the Highball with whisky legend Sarah Burgess, an evening not to be missed with Glen Moray’s Iain Allan at Elgin Cathedral and one of a kind experiences at a number of distilleries not usually open to the public including Dufftown, Tamdhu and Tamnavulin distillery tours and tastings.

George McNeil, chairman of The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, said:

“We have an impressive range of events on offer, with some stellar new additions to the 2022 programme including an eclectic amalgamation of Star Wars and whisky tasting in memory of Brett Ferencz known to many as the Scotch Trooper, with 25% of ticket sales going towards cancer research.

“The last few years have been difficult for everyone and as we begin to return to normality I know that the many partners and people who help to bring the Festival to life are gearing up to welcome people from all over the globe to Speyside.

“I hope to see people from far and wide joining us to celebrate the world’s largest producing whisky region, from whisky novices, budding master blenders and everyone in between. I look forward to welcoming people once again to an area I am lucky enough to call home.”

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said:

“We are delighted to support the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival through our International Events Funding Programme. Its 2022 line-up of tastings, ceilidhs, distillery tours and more looks set to deliver another fantastic celebration of Scotland’s national drink. Uniquely Scottish events such as the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival can only serve to further strengthen the country’s reputation as a world-leading events destination.”

Date change – this event was originally advertised as 15th April, it has now moved to 22nd April.

Where the River Feshie meets the River Spey, there are fascinating stories and histories to be heard. Come and join a guided walk around Dalnavert to explore this fascinating part of Badenoch.

Brimming with tales of gruesome ghosts and fairy hills to the historical links with empire and colonialism, the walk brings together archaeology, folklore, culture, history and storytelling.

Highland League: Strathspey Thistle FC v Brechin City FC, Seafield Park, kick-off 3pm. Wheelchair spaces available. By present special arrangement – when car park is full, please park at Grantown-on-Spey Golf Club car park (end of Golf Course Road). All parking at vehicle owner’s risk.

Highland League: Strathspey Thistle FC v Clachnacuddin FC, Seafield Park, kick-off 8pm. Wheelchair spaces available. By present special arrangement – if car park at ground is full, please park at Grantown-on-Spey Golf Club car park. (All parking at own risk).

Verlon Thompson and Friends in Concert
‘A joyful gathering and sharing of songs’

Verlon Thompson returns to the St Margaret’s stage in 2022.

“A few years ago I led a week-long songwriting workshop in Scotland. Our lodging and classroom was the beautiful Kincardine Castle on the River Dee west of Aberdeen. When we weren’t strolling the beautiful estate or eating like kings and queens we managed to get down to the business of songwriting and honing our craft. But the most beautiful magic was when we gathered with the talented and gracious musicians from the area.

The music we shared in the great room of the castle, the pubs, churches and venues…it was all so beautifully spontaneous and joyful that I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I returned to Tennessee. There were lots of pictures and cell phone recordings of these gatherings but I found myself wishing I had better documented those beautiful moments. So…..Scotland, I’m coming back!

I’m returning in 2022 with another group of songwriters, but this time I’m bringing an award winning documentary filmmaker, who also just happens to be my beautiful wife (she should get an award for that as well!). With plans to enlist an agile and professional sound engineer to follow us around, I hope to recapture some of the magic and music that followed me home…and has never stopped calling me back.”

Songwriters seem to flourish on the fertile Oklahoma plains. Woody Guthrie, Roger Miller, Leon Russell, J.J. Cale and Jimmy Webb.

Add Verlon Thompson to that list.

Thirty years as a professional songwriter and traveling troubadour serve as credentials. As a solo performer, and as the trusted sidekick of Texas Americana songwriting icon Guy Clark, Verlon has viewed the world from stages everywhere from Barcelona to Binger (his hometown in Oklahoma).

Along the way Verlon Thompson compositions have been recorded by Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson, Dierks Bentley, Suzy Bogguss, Anne Murray, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, Del McCoury, Sam Bush, Trisha Yearwood and many more.

Equally important in his songwriting and live performances, Verlon’s guitar work cannot go unnoticed. His guitar can be heard on recordings by Restless Heart, Pam Tillis, and many more, including, and especially Guy Clark.

Verlon co-produced Guy Clark’s Grammy nominated CD “Cold Dog Soup” as well as “The Dark”, “Workbench Songs” and “Somedays the Song Writes You”.

As the in-house musician for Genuine Human Productions, Thompson scores themes and background music for documentaries and special film projects.

Verlon Thompson is currently on the road. Or in the studio. Or writing in his bunkhouse on the river in Tennessee…
….but never far from the fertile plains of Oklahoma.

Imagine you are about to die.
You have one meal left.
What are you going to have?

It’s the question award-winning restaurant critic, MasterChef judge and writer Jay Rayner has been asked most often by audiences across the UK. It happened so often that he decided the time had come to investigate the concept of the last supper and why it intrigues us so. Is it because of the opportunity it presents us with to let your appetites run riot? Or is it because it’s
a greedy way in which to tell the story of your own life? And if so, what would a man like Jay Rayner, who for two decades has made a living eating out in restaurants, choose to put on the menu?

In this barnstorming new show, based on his new book, Rayner investigates our fascination with last suppers and tells the stories of the killer dishes that would end up on his table: how he was introduced to oysters by his late mother, how he almost burnt down a hotel because of his love for snails in bubbling garlic butter and of the many ways by which the mighty pig has
fed him over the years. Plus, he’ll get the audience to design their own last meal. My Last Supper follows the success of his sell out shows, My Dining Hell and The Ten Food Commandments, which have taken audiences by storm across the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the US.

My Last Supper with Jay Rayner. It’s a show to die for.