Posts for June, 2024

It’s the Ballater Royal Horticultural Society Garden Festival weekend and everyone is invited to take part!

More information to follow on the St Kentigerns Summer Fayre! Keep an eye on www.visitballater.com/events/!

FREE ENTRY. Royal Deeside’s annual art exhibition, featuring the artwork of around 40 North East artists working across a variety of mediums. Exhibition includes original paintings, drawings, jewellery and sculpture as well as prints and cards. Open daily in Aboyne’s Victory Hall 10am-6pm between July 20th and August 10th. Find out more about our exhibiting

Get ready yo aim for the bullseye! Join us for an exciting darts event running every fortnightly by Deeside Darts Academy.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, everyone is welcome to come and have a great time! Entry is FREE but donations are welcome.

Free Entry!

Featuring 20+ fabulous stallholders from across Deeside and beyond, plus one fun fundraising stall from a local charity or organisation.

Stallholders’ fees benefit the V&A Halls.

Sunday 23rd June – 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Sunday August 11th – 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday 13th October – 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Another in our season of free outdoor parties, celebrating the space we have by the Spey and the magical community we live in. Music, dancing, food trucks, outside bar.

This time with Hammer and Andrew Thomson. Two record label bosses in their own right, schooled in the electronic music scenes of Glasgow and beyond over the decades. Hammer famously known for his presence on the Feel My Bicep mix series and Andrew’s more recent history has seen him launch Clyde Built Radio, a Glasgow based station showcasing Scotland’s best DJ talent.

Hammer is known for his love of deep rolling arps, old analogue synths and big euphoric
melodies.
Launching 2 labels, Remmah and Italo Hiits over the past few years, he is a hugely popular
festival and club booking at the likes of Love International, Panorama Bar, Glastonbury,
Fabric, Phonox, Houghton and headlined AVA Festival in his hometown of Belfast.
This year, Remmah celebrated its 11th release with a Remmah Rundown compilation
featuring 11 both established and emerging artists, including Optimo’s JG Wilkes, whilst
featuring debut releases from Anna Gram, Kilimanjaro, Stevie Cox and Ysanne. Anna,
Stevie and Kilimanjaro all went on to release huge records on other established labels in
what was a lucrative year for all 3 artists. Following the success of the Remmah compilation
release across the spectrum of the electronic music media – including Mixmag, DJ Mag,
Ransom Note, Electronic Groove and more – the label then released an EP from Rhythm
From Mars and New Delhi’s FILM. Forthcoming on Remmah is an EP from Sonic Juncture,
out 8th December.

What started as a personal label project, has now become a platform to launch new talent
into the industry. Giving space to debut artists from all backgrounds around the world –
including Sublime Sound, Stevie Cox and his release; the hugely successful ‘Sickwave’, a
collaboration with Killimanjaro, after the enormous success of debut EP Muleña EP, a with a
Tornado Wallace remix and Hammer’s biggest self release record so far – the label
continues to go from strength to strength.

Much of his output is road tested on his monthly Rinse FM residency, with shows, mixes and
podcasts for BBC Radio 1, Radio 6 Music, Beats In Space, Insomniac Radio, John
Digweed’s Transitions Radio and Fabric to name a few. Additionally, he has recorded live
streams at the Saatchi Gallery with Feel My Bicep, B2B live stream for Warehouse Project
and Resident Advisor with Sally C, and a Boiler Room show in Vienna.

Hammer will continue creating sell out vinyls on The Hammer Hits white label, like ‘Love
Somebody’ and ‘Strong Enough’. With Hammer, you know there’s always more to come with
a huge new disco edit planned, a track that was tried and tested at Houghton Festival. Plus,
he has created an Italo Hiits label, born out of his fund raising home workouts, giving himself
and his audience a music orientated wellness space that was as high energy as the tracks
he made for it, ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ is a pure slice of Hi NRG nostalgia. With 3 colour vinyl
releases to date, the label is dedicated to his indulgent modern take on Italo Disco.

This year he built his own studio in SWG3, Glasgow, where he continues to make music on
a daily basis and plans to turn it into a space for live sets and radio shows. Hammer’s many
collaborations come from a love of people and creativity. Finishing 2023 strong with
‘Marabou’, a piano led disco track made with Storken and released on vinyl with Running
Back. Hammer’s final release of 2023 was on Permanent Vacation with some big house
sounds on ‘Pearl’. With a vinyl release due out in January on Skylax Records, 2024 is set to
be another big year for the Northern Irish producer, DJ and label head honcho.

Andrew Thomson

Brewing for some time now, we are very excited to finally be launching our weekly tipi pub nights, the ‘Gather Inn’. A space for you to unwind on a Friday evening and kick off your weekend in the right way, we’ll even have cold frothy draft beer on rotation by the brilliant organic Black Isle Brewery!

The tipi has always been the perfect space for gathering together and enjoying a drink around the fire, but to top it off we will be joined (some Fridays) by ‘Highland Slice’ serving up tasty pizzas from his gorgeous horsebox. You will order directly with Andrew through his social media pages or you can order on the night, but may have to wait slightly longer for your order. Then join us in the tipi to dine with a few drinks some good craic and nice tunes. We may even have the occasional live performance.

Our ‘Gather Inn’ nights will be starting from Friday 31st May all the way through summer, minus the odd Friday where we have other events running. We will be open from 5 – 10pm, with children welcome until 8pm.

May – 31st
June – 7th and 21st
July – 5th (pizza available), 12th, and 26th
August – 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd (pizza available all of August)
*note it is best to pre order with Andrew through his facebook or Instagram page – Highland Slice 

The small village of Dalwhinnie nestles in the lower regions of the Cairngorm National Park. We are however the first or last stopping place after or before Drumochter Pass. Our name means ‘Meeting Place’ in Gaelic and we would like you to come and meet with us at our hall for Homemade Cakes, Teas and Coffees, fresh flowers, books and other local craft items.

Live music with this talented group

Come and celebrate National Meadows Day with us on a walk to enjoy the beauty of summer wildflowers!

We will walk the Invertromie Trail and see lots of different flowers, from the common, such as Bird’s-Foot Trefoil, Bedstraws and Stitchworts, to the uncommon, such as Rockrose and Petty Whin. The highlight of the walk will be gorgeous Tromie orchid meadow where we will hope to see five species of orchid, including Heath Fragrant Orchid and Small White Orchid.

Some areas may be rough underfoot. This 5k/3mile route is unfortunately not suitable for wheelchairs or buggies, and we recommend sturdy footwear.

Feel free to bring a packed lunch with you as we will be having a lunch stop. There are no facilities to buy food on site – the nearest shops and cafes are in Kingussie.

Under 12s free.