Posts for January, 2023

St Margaret’s plays host to Scotland’s Makar, our national poet, for a daytime ‘in conversation’ event just days after Burns Night.

Kathleen Jamie, poet and essayist, was born in 1962. Her work concerns nature, travel and culture, Her non-fiction includes the Findings trilogy (Findings, Sightlines and Surfacing) all regarded as important contributions to the ‘new nature writing’.

Kathleen’s prize-winning poetry collections have been gathered into a recent Selected Poems (Picador 2019).

She was raised in Currie, Midlothian and has what Robert Louis Stevenson called ‘a strong Scots accent of the mind’.

Her poems have appeared on the Underground systems of London, New York and Shanghai and, closer to home, one of her poems was chosen by the public to be carved on a huge wooden beam on the national monument at Bannockburn.

Kathleen was for many years a tutor of creative writing at the universities of St Andrew’s and Stirling, and now freelances, having made a recent foray into editing with Antlers of Water, Scottish Writing on Nature and the Environment.

Fiona Kennedy OBE DL is one of Scotland’s best known singer-songwriters and broadcasters. She has produced a variety of shows for stage and television over the years and is a tireless volunteer and ambassador for a number of charities, not least as a Trustee of St Margaret’s Braemar.

Her musical accomplishments are incredibly varied and include singing for Her late Majesty The Queen on several occasions, performing at Edinburgh Castle during the G8 Summit, shows at Celtic Connections and the BBC’s Transatlantic Sessions and touring with Runrig.

She has hosted television programmes for PBS in America, narrated Peter and the Wolf and The Snowman alongside the RSNO and acted in a number of roles including Alfie in the West End and in the 1973 cult classic film The Wicker Man.

Each year Fiona brings some of the world’s biggest names in Country and Americana to the St Margaret’s stage in a pan-celtic celebration of music called Transatlantic Connections, with performances from Beth Nielsen Chapman, Mary Gauthier and Verlon Thompson in recent years. In January 2022, she interviewed poet, writer and former Makar Jackie Kay on her life and work in literature.

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This hour-long lunchtime event will delve into Kathleen Jamie’s influences and her journey from being brought up in a non-literary, ordinary Scottish family to becoming Scotland’s Makar, penning new works for national occasions —the opening of The Scottish Parliament and most recently following the death of Her Majesty the Queen.

Following the event, a selection of Kathleen’s books and collections will be available to purchase and the author will be available to sign these.

Teas, coffees, snacks and soft-drinks will be available.

This event is delivered in partnership with The Fife Arms.

Join Cairngorms Astronomy Group and Tomintoul & Glenlivet Development Trust for a night of stargazing at Inveraven Church & Pictish Stones. What did the Celts see in the night sky? Can these enigmatic monuments shed any light on Pictish astronomy? Come along to find out more.

The Osprey Music Society (TOMS) in Boat of Garten will host The Broen Ensemble whose 8 members will perform a programme of Elgar, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.

The Osprey Music Society (TOMS) will host Sasha Savaloni on classical guitar, in company with Lee Holland on flute, Mark O’Keefe on trumpet and soprano Alison McNeill. This the premier of a unique programme of pieces arrangewd specially for TOMS.

Tim Horton piano: Benjamin Nabarro – violin: Gemma Rosefield – cello: A return visit from this highly renowned Trio, with a programme of Haydn, Dvorak, Mendelssohn.

In a new series of richly entertaining, and free of charge, dramatised podcasts, Fire Works, award-winning Firebrand Theatre Company will take to the Pitlochry Festival Theatre Sound Stage to guide you on an audio journey through the life and work of the multi-talented novelist, poet, teacher and nature writer Nan Shepherd.

In three 30 minute podcasts, Nan Makes History, Nan In Love and Urban Nan, Firebrand will use Nan’s ground-breaking novels, letters and poems, along with entertaining dramatised scenes, to experience the unconventional author in all her natural and, at times lesser-known, habitats, while trying to explain the mystery of why her greatest work languished forgotten in a drawer for over thirty years.

Abandoned as a girl, Kya raised herself in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the marsh girl haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, she opens herself to a new and startling world.

In 1950s London, a widowed cleaning lady falls madly in love with a couture Dior dress, deciding she must have one of her own. After working to raise the funds to pursue her dream, she embarks on an adventure to Paris that will change not only her own outlook — but the very future of the House of Dior.

Session A9 are returning to the stage and can’t wait to get out touring again for the first time since lockdowns. Fiddle player Charlie Mckerron guarantees “we will be in great form!”.

Hailed as “Scotland’s Supergroup” Session A9 are previous winners of “Best Live Act” at MG Alba’s Scottish Traditional Music Awards, with individual band members having achieved awards in their own right.

Each member of Session A9 can be seen on stage with many of traditional music’s most respected bands, including Capercaillie, The Treacherous Orchestra, The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, as well as their own individual ensembles.

Fiddle players Kevin Henderson, Adam Sutherland, Gordon Gunn and Charlie Mckerron are joined as always by David “Chimp” Robertson on percussion, Marc Clement on guitar and vocals, and Brian McAlpine on piano.

The band promises to “raise the roof” bringing their original compositions, exciting arrangements along with their usual skill, fire and enthusiasm, this should be a night to remember!

Join us for:
** Food & Drink Street Festival in the Town Square
** Art & Craft Fair at Grantown Museum
** Unmissable Christmas Tree Festival in the Community Centre
** Live music sessions
** Distillery tours at Grantown’s new distillery, The Cairn
** Santa and his reindeer
** Lego trail throughout the town
** Offers on our High Street from our fabulous small, independent shops, cafes and restaurants

There is plenty of parking in 3 car parks and the High Street
Public toilets available in the High St car park