Posts for February, 2022

“Full Circle” Arctic Presentation: An Artists Experience

We are delighted to welcome Jackie Kay to the St Margaret’s stage to speak with Fiona Kennedy about her fascinating life and literary career.

Jackie Kay CBE was born and brought up in Scotland. In 2016, Kay was appointed the Makar or National Poet for Scotland for a five year term. She is the author of – among other books – The Adoption Papers, which won the Forward Prize, Red Dust Road, winner of Scottish Book of the Year Award, Trumpet, and the Costa-shortlisted Fiere. She is professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.

Supported by the Fife Arms’ Community Programme.

Our feral Konik ponies make light work of grazing the Marshes, keeping the habitat in tip-top condition for the special birds that live there.

Join us to learn all about them, before going on a short walk to find out about how they fit in with our wider work managing the reserve and our plans for the future.

Wednesday 2nd February
10am-12noon

This event is free, but booking is essential as places are limited by parking capacity – please email: insh@rspb.org.uk

(Our walk will be about 1 mile over uneven pathless terrain with one small, but fairly steep slope. Unfortunately this route is not suitable for wheelchairs or buggies. Wellies are essential as the entrance to the field regularly floods in winter – we do have a small number of pairs available to borrow, please let us know and we’ll see if we have your size!)

A presentation covering a selection of Royally connected visits, incidents and influences relating to Grantown, the Clan Grant and Strathspey from Edward I of England to Tsar Nicholas of Russia.

A presentation from Peter Cosgrove on local ecology including the fascinating story of the fresh water Mollusc of the Glen and of the pearls which may be found there.

Meeting will be under Covid restrictions but if necessary will be presented on line by zoom

The way we each experience places can be vastly different – our unique emotions, knowledge, memories and company can all alter how we connect to the land. What and who we’re in company with shapes how we connect to a landscape.

With this as a starting point, writer, Elizabeth Reeder, will be hosting a series of writing workshops exploring the idea of companionship.

The workshops will explore what it might mean to have a companion species, or to be accompanied by a question, or to accompany someone with different knowledge of a place than you have.

And we’ll do some writing. The writing is for yourself and you’ll be under no obligation to share. (Although, we are considering collecting stories for those people who are interested in sharing them.)


No previous writing experience is necessary, and all ages* and abilities very welcome.
*under-18s must be accompanied by an adult.


These workshops are free, but places are limited. Please sign up to reserve a space.


Dates and times:

Saturday 5th February, 10am -12 noon, online via Zoom

Wednesday 16th February, 6-8 pm, online via Zoom

We plan to run additional in-person workshops come the spring!


For any questions please contact Elizabeth directly on elizabeth.reeder@mac.com

Elizabeth Reeder, together with Robbie Synge (choreographer and filmmaker) and Amanda Thomson (visual artist) are Artists in Residence with Cairngorms Connect through the Endangered Landscapes Artists Residency programme.

Doreen Wood and Simon Blackett will give a joint presentation on the township of Auchtavan, which inlcudes the late Queen Mother’s Picnic Cottage.

Faction is excited to bring you our third full feature film: “Roots” in Collaboration with Braemar Mountain Sports and Glenshee Ski Centre.

Come and check it out on the big screen at our Braemar Premiere and share a night to remember.

Faction’s third feature film uncovers the foundations of freeskiing as seen by the current generation of skiers. From the caves of the Dolomites to the nightscapes of Ruka and the mythic peaks surrounding Verbier, ROOTS takes us on a journey through the vibrant spectrum of freeskiing.

All proceeds go to the Braemar Mountain Rescue Team

We fix household items in a a friendly environment with tea, coffee and delicious home baking.

Please bring your item along with any obvious spare parts and we will do our best to fix it and show you how!

Things we can help with:

Small Electrical Items: toasters, kettles , vacuum cleaners etc

IT: laptops and phone software (not screens)

General items : toys, ornaments, small furniture

Clothing and textiles: jeans, bags,shirts


(Repairs are free only pay for parts)

We need a many types of volunteers to run the repair cafe ( not just repairers) if you would like to volunteer with us please contact : repaircafe@boathall.org.uk or Phone 01479 813123

On the evening of Wednesday 1st December, we’re hosting local writer, broadcaster, food anthropologist, and neighbour to Rothiemurchus, Ghillie Basan, to launch her new book, ‘A Taste of The Highlands.’

Within ‘A Taste of the Highlands’, Ghillie has created a number of dishes from produce sourced from Rothiemurchus and we are delighted to see these come to life in this beautiful book.

Come along and meet Ghillie over some hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts, pick up a copy of the book and take advantage of the Farm Shop being open late to get some of your Christmas shopping done.

Please do follow the link to our Facebook event page and click ‘going’ if you’d like to come so we can have an idea of attendance and we look forward to welcoming you!