Scottish History Events

Upcoming Local History Event: Tales from the Tweed

Aug 272013

News reaches us of a local history event that we think AddressingHistory users/blog readers, particularly those in the Borders, may be interested in. This guest post from Heather Rea, Edinburgh Beltane Network, explains the project and event Tales from the River Tweed:

One intrepid family are about to begin a 97 mile storytelling trek along the River Tweed. Equipped with walking boots, waterproofs and a ukulele, Ross Winter and Sophia Collins, and 6 week old baby Taliesin, will walk from one end of the Tweed to the other this September. It’s all part of a project to celebrate the River Tweed, its landscape and its stories.

People on the Banks of the Tweed by Flickr User Bods / Andrew Bowden

The family will stop at various places along the way and put on events – in village halls, pubs, museums and schools. Each event will feature traditional storytelling and talks from Tweed experts, followed by a ‘story sharing’ session where members of the audience can tell their own tales about the river. “Scotland is world-famous for its natural landscape, and also for its story-telling tradition, so it seemed to make sense to bring them together.”, says Sophia.

“This is the first project of its type in the world and we’re delighted that the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland have been forward-thinking enough to fund it.”

“I like the idea that the river has seen so much history and has always been a place that people are drawn to, a thing that connects people together” says Ross. One way that they’ll be ‘connecting people’ will be through their website which will include photos, drawings, journals and audio recordings of stories they have collected as they walk along the river, and from the people they meet. Sophia says:

We’re like wandering medieval bards, but with laptops, iPhones and sound recorders.

Find out when and where the events will be and follow their journey on the Tales from the Tweed Blog: http://talesfromthetweed.wordpress.com

You can also view a Preview here:

If you have tales from the River Tweed to share please do get in touch with Sophia, Ross and Taliesin would love to hear from you and to welcome you along to the events they are planning. Contact details are on the website and Sophia can be contacted via talesfromtheriver@gmail.com.

Guest Blog Post: SPIRES Network Technological Spaces Event

Sep 022011

We have a short guest blog post this week from Mòrag Burgon-Lyon of SPIRES who have an event coming up in October that should be of interest to those using AddressingHistory.

SPIRES is a network for researchers, young, old and somewhere in between, in academia, industry and leisure. They run seminars and workshops, provide travel funding for these and other events, promote discussion and generally support members in any way they can. Anyone can join SPIRES (it’s free!) and you can find out more about how to do this on their about page.

The SPIRES (Supporting People who Investigate Research Environments and Spaces) network would like to invite some leisure researchers to join our next workshop on Technological Spaces at City University, London on 7th October. We aim to get people together from academia, industry and leisure research for networking, and to better understand the physical, social and digital environments in which research is conducted.

The day will comprise short talks of around 15 minutes on various topics, discussion sessions and group activities. Confirmed talks include a digital curator from the British Library about the Growing Knowledge exhibition and some academic projects on digital tools including SerenA (a Serendipity Arena) and Brain (Building Research and Innovation Networks). More talks are in the pipeline from academic and industry speakers.

If you would like to present a short talk about your research, and the tools (digital and otherwise) you use, we would love to hear from you! If you would rather not present a talk, but would still like to attend the workshop, or just join the SPIRES network (it is free, and there are lots of benefits) please get in touch. Assistance with travel costs is available for workshop attendees, (though please check with me before booking travel) and lunch will be provided. Contact @SPIRES13 on Twitter, or email m.burgon-lyon@hw.ac.uk. Further information is also available on our website http://www.spires.info

Story of a Nation

Scottish History Events Comments Off

Jan 242011

Last spring we blogged about “Story of England” (titled “English Story” at the time), a major Michael Wood series looking at the history of England through the prism of the community of Kibworth in Leicestershire. The AddressingHistory team very much enjoyed the series when it was aired last year particularly as the series placed the local community at the centre of its explorations of the history of the place and its people. We are therefore delighted to hear that a follow up series, Story of a Nation is currently being developed!

Story of a Nation will be looking at the history of the entire UK and the programme makers, Maya Vision International, have been in touch to see if we can help with a rather specific request for help. The team are seeking possible projects in Scotland around the Black Death and around Calvinism. The production team are keen to ensure that these projects involve the local community – as they did for Story of England – and are very interested to hear any possible ideas for projects or to connect to existing activity around Scottish history of this era.

For instance you might be aware of colourful local accounts or archaeological sites that relate to the Black Death or the surrounding era (from around 1300 to around 1500). It may be that your local history or community group may have a special interest in, or your ancestors may have strong connections to Calvinism in Scotland, the Protestant Reformation or indeed to key figures of this movement such as John Knox. Or it could be that you enjoyed Story of England and had a great idea for a project that would work in your local community for these historical periods.

So, if you or your local history or archaeology group are already active in this area, if you know of a particular connection or have a great idea to explore further then please get in touch with us (addressing.history@ed.ac.uk) as soon as possible and we will forward your message or contact details to the team at Maya Vision International.

We think this will be a really interesting series so would definitely encourage you to send in your ideas!

Scottish History Events & Fringe Shows

Scottish History Events 1 Response »

Aug 202010

This month all of us on the AddressingHistory Team have been feeling quite festive: the sun is (mostly) shining, the web tool for AddressingHistory is starting to look fantastic, and there have been huge amounts of enthusiasm and energy surrounding Edinburgh (where we are based) as the various August festivals get under way. With this in mind we thought we would gather up some information on shows and events in and beyond Edinburgh that might be of interest over the next few weeks.

In and Around Edinburgh

A Brief History of Scotland – We Done Loads! promises to explain how everything in the history of the world began in Scotland. Possibly this is not historically accurate but we are told it is very fun.
The Royal Mile History and Legends Tour shares both fact and legend as the period costumed guide wanders you around Edinburgh’s Old Town (for free).
Bicentenary Concert: Robert Tannahill is a rare opportunity to hear the songs of Paisley born poet and songwriter Robert Tannahill (1774-1810) performed.
The Scott Monument – Edinburgh 283 is, suprisingly, the first ever photography exhibition to be held in the Scott Monument (in the exhibition space around 100 ft above Princes Street). The monument will also be of particular interest to those who have been listing to this week’s Radio 4 Book of the Week on Sir Walter Scott, Scott-land: The Man Who Invented a Nation.
Edinburgh Visit Scotland – The Robert Louis Stevenson Experience walks you through the life and novels of Robert Louis Stevenson (including free whisky and shortbread apparently).
MacPherson’s Cave – Shadow and Enlightenment, part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, is an exploration by Robert Powell of the mythologising of history in general and Scottish history in particular.
Queen Victoria Visits the Castle: it’s 1886 and Queen Victoria is visiting Edinburgh Castle to view and comment on recent improvements.
Burns: The Video Diary takes a very modern and raw view of Scotland’s iconic Bard.
How Did a Scottish Game Conquer the World? (9th September) looks at the history of Golf and it’s sudden growth in popularity in the 1880s.

Around Scotland

The Bruce Festival, which celebrates the life and legends of Robert the Bruce, takes place in Dunfermline from 19th August to 29th August.
Gaelic Workers at Stanley Mills looks back at the people who were recruited from the Highlands to work in this 18th century cotton mill complex near Perth. This event will run every other week from 28th August until the end of September.
Highland Games are taking place throughout the summer in various locations around the Highlands. A full schedule is available on the VisitScotland website and one of the most high profile games, the Braemar Gathering, takes place on 4rd September.
Perth: A Place in History, part of the Perth 800 celebrations, is a two day conference (10th-11th September) looking back over the history of the city. AddressingHistory will be along at the event along with colleagues from the Visualising Urban Geographies project so please do stop by and say hello!

September also brings various Doors Open days and is also Scottish Archaeology Month – more information on both can be found on the Historic Scotland website. Edinburgh Doors Open Day 2010 will take place 25th and 26th September, more information can be found on the Cockburn Association website.

Finally, following yesterday’s news about the passing of Glasgow-born poet Edwin Morgan, we thought you might like to know that you can explore his work and hear readings of his poetry (along with the work of many other great Scottish poets) at the Scottish Poetry Library website.