Posts for October, 2024

Unleash the full potential of your smartphone camera with our highly interactive practical Phone Photography Workshop.

What you’ll learn:

The kit: your camera phone, the best settings, how and when to use them
The light: how light will make or break your images
The lines: How to use composition to improve your photos
The edit: Which apps to download and how to use them
The details: files sizes and formats

2024 Braemar Whisky Festival

Friday 25th & Saturday 26th October

Tickets available for full line up via website now:

https://braemarwhiskyfestival.com

Come and join us!

Across mainland Europe, nature is making a dramatic recovery – could Scotland be next?
Join us for a screening of Why Not Scotland?, the compelling story of Flo, a young Scot, as she discovers #rewilding across Europe, prompting her to ponder the potential for a similar revival in Scotland. Open to all.

Come and celebrate with us for an evening of delight and surprise! In a warm and relaxed evening at Am Fasgadh, Highland Folk Museum with hot drinks and nibbles, we’d love to share the creative work of this year.

The Storylands Sessions Word Workshops this season have been hosted at the Highland Folk Museum where we have been inspired by items from their collections, including a Women’s Land Army Jumper, vicious anti-poaching devices, a 200 year-old shepherd’s plaid, the Travellers’ tent and tinware, and a collection of wheeled items.

We have been privileged to learn from the Highland Folk Museum curators, Helen Pickles and Liz English, as well as local people for whom our focus that week is a way of life: sheepfarmer Campbell Slimon and Traveller John Macdonald.

Places are very limited, so book early

Ever wondered about the stars and constellations and wanted to find out more?

Guided stargazing sessions in small groups of up to 10 people at Howe of Torbeg in the stunning Cairngorms National Park, with its exceptional dark skies.

Simple & accessible, looking at the stars and learning a bit about them is the perfect way to get away from it all for a few hours, & spend some time in nature.

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Join Cairngorms Connect to get hands on doing practical habitat restoration work.

Help us to block up old, but still active, ditches on a small area of bog woodland in Glenmore Forest, using hand tools and wood. The aim is to hold more water in the peat, slow the loss of water from the site and to benefit the bog vegetation.

Tools and work gloves will be provided, as will instructions so no experience is necessary.

However, please note this is a physically demanding volunteering session, which includes walking roughly 2km to site and moving around on rough and wet ground with drainage ditches.

It is important that all people have equal access to Cairngorms Connect events. We are happy to provide for your requirements, wherever possible eg. BSL interpreters. If you have any accessibility requirements, please get in touch.

Married to the Duke of Gordon at 17, Jane became a leading hostess in Edinburgh, friend and principal Patron to Robbie Burns. In London society she became a close friend and “fixer” to William Pitt and Dundas as well as a mediator between King George 111 and the Prince of Wales. Back in Badenoch she was a zealous agricultural improver and founded Kingussie. Tonight’s Talk sets out to convince the audience that Jane Maxwell was and is, indeed, Scotland’s most remarkable woman.

The Cairngorm’s National Park is the UK’s largest and is one of the most important places for nature in the UK. It is home to around 18,000 people and is visited by around 2 million people each year. The Park has seen significant changes since it was designated 20 years ago. This Talk will look at the changes that have occurred, the work of the Park Authority and what are the big challenges for the next 20 years.

Time spent sailing the West Coast of Scotland and beyond provided Alan with time to reflect on ancient landscapes, navigation by the stars and the development of modern navigation technology. Alan will trace the origins and influences of Gods, emperors, explorers, empires and scientific developments that opened navigation and exploration around the globe. This will be a fascinating presentation that draws on history and personal experiences and has shaped the globalised world we know today.

A chance encounter between James Lamb from Dunkeld and Tashi Lama, a Buddhist monk from Tengboche monastery that coincided with a massive avalanche at Everest Base Camp changed both their lives and led to an enduring partnership and, following the devastating earthquakes that hit Nepal in 2015, the establishment of The Little Sherpa Foundation. The Foundation is focused on supporting the Sherpa communities living in the Solu Khumbu area and funds the rebuilding of clinics, schools and infrastructure and the provision of grants and bursaries.
This evening will include illustrated Talks focussed on the mountains and Sherpa communities living in this part of Nepal by Cameron McNeish and James Lamb along with a film “Sherpa Speak” made by BAFTA award winning film makers Richard Else and Meg Wicks. There will also be a raffle and items for sale, including signed prints by James Hawkins.
Cameron McNeish is the well known walker, mountaineer, author and broadcaster. He is also a trustee of the Foundation. James Lamb is a walker and trekker who was in the Solu Khumbu when the Everest avalanche struck and established the Little Sherpa Foundation. Richard Else and Meg Wicks are film makers best known for their work on the BBC Adventure show.
This is sure to be a great evening with dramatic mountains, fascinating cultures and communities and inspiring activities and all in support of a wonderful, local Foundation.