This is a past event
A festival to celebrate the singing traditions of Scotland, England, and Ireland in memory of Tom and Anne Reid
Download the festival programme.
The Festival is a unique celebration, bringing together outstanding traditional singers from Scotland, England, and Ireland. The event is especially for those who like to hear, enjoy, and join in unaccompanied traditional singing. Essentially informal, friendly and non-competitive, it will be just the place to encourage the young and less experienced as well as the old hands. The weekend includes ceilidhs featuring the guest singers, singarounds for everyone who wants to join in, workshops, craft demonstrations and a talk.
Cullerlie Farm Park was set up by Tom ('Tam') and Anne Reid in 1993 and is now run by Anne’s daughter Tracey Walker and her husband Eric, as well as other members of the family. Tom moved to the Cullerlie Estate with his parents in 1935, and worked with his father in the traditional way of farming. He kept the traditions alive by turning the old original steading into a farm museum with one of the largest privately owned collections of farming and domestic memorabilia in Scotland. Anne, who was from nearby Peterculter, joined Tom when they married in 1975.
Tom (born 1929) was a legendary singer, having been crowned, in 1977, the Bothy Ballad King before a crowd of 10,000 at the Haughs in Turriff, a title that remained his until his death in January 2003. Anne (1939-2006) was also a fine singer and promoted the traditions of the North-East through singing and speaking workshops with schoolchildren and adults at local schools and at the museum, as well as hosting regular Saturday-night ceilidhs. It is the family’s express wish that the festival should continue to run in memory of Tom and Anne.
At the Park there is a large tearoom where the staff serve soup, sandwiches, and lots of delicious home baking. They cater for all needs with a baby changing area plus disabled facilities. The Park nestles at the foot of the Hill of Fare where the battles of Corrichie and Cullerlie Moor were fought. It is 6 miles north-east of Banchory and 12 miles west of Aberdeen. From Aberdeen follow the A944 to the Westhill roundabout, then fork left on the B9119 to Garlogie, then fork left again on the B9125 for 3 miles. The Park is on the right.
The Guests
Stuart Carolan comes from Drogheda, in Ireland. He is following in the footsteps of his grandmother, Mary Ann Carolan, who was a renowned performer of ballads and songs in the style and tradition of County Louth. Stuart is now gaining a solid reputation in his own right, and we are delighted to welcome a new generation of Carolans to Cullerlie. Patricia Flynn from Mullaghbawn has lived in South Armagh most of her life, an area steeped in the traditions of music, song, dance and storytelling. She has been singing for many years, encouraged first by her mother, who is still singing at ninety years of age, and also by local singers and friends, notably Mick Quinn and Len Graham. She was a founder member and organiser of the Sliabh Gullion Festival of Traditional Singing, which ran for 25 years until 2006. She has performed at festivals from Paris to Washington, D.C. Lucy Pringle grew up in Clackmannanshire before becoming involved in the Edinburgh folk scene. She first came to notice as a founder member of the traditional singing quartet the Linties, before performing in a duo with Chris Wright. Her singing draws from the Scottish ballad tradition and she has been influenced by many singers past and present. Having attended Cullerlie over a number of years, she is delighted to be making her first appearance as a guest. Chris Miles is from Kirkcaldy. She has been around for quite a while now. She likes to sing all kinds of songs, and has lots of them. People seem to quite like it when she sings. She likes sad songs, but sometimes she can be funny. You might like it when she sings. She hopes so. She wrote this ‘biography’ herself, no one else to blame ... in exactly seventy words. Geordie Murison was born and brought up on a farm at Fetteresso, Stonehaven, and now lives at Netherley. He is a gifted singer of traditional songs and bothy ballads and sings with a fine North-East Doric accent, being a great enthusiast for the local dialects and songs. He has been a guest at festivals as ‘far awa fae Bennachie’ as London, Sidmouth, Inishowen and Orkney, and is very pleased to be asked back to Cullerlie. Alistair Ogilvy, from Strathblane, is a traditional singer who has been singing the big ballads for some time now. He enjoys the reality and intense stories involved with the tradition, and thrives on researching and sourcing material to perform either solo or with his band. With influences from Lizzie Higgins, Gordeanna McCulloch and Maureen Jelks to Nick Drake, he has a wide repertoire. He has released an album with Greentrax and has performed at many festivals, and on radio and television. John Waltham grew up in Dorset to a background of farm workers’ songs and his grandmother’s songs and stories. Long hours on the tractor resulted in many big ballads joining the local and comic songs in his repertoire, along with songs gleaned from older Dorset and Somerset singers. Giving up the farm was a wrench, but this has left time for him to attend more singing events. Arthur Watson was born in Aberdeen and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Gray’s School of Art. He has been singing traditional North-East songs since the early sixties, both unaccompanied and with the Gaugers and with Shepheard, Spiers & Watson. His work as an artist draws on the ephemeral nature of traditional culture through exhibitions, sculptures and archival research. He is currently Course Director for Fine Art at the University of Dundee and President of the Royal Scottish Academy. Sheena Wellington is a Dundee-born traditional singer, weel-kent across Scotland. She loves the big ballads but also enjoys singing Burns, bothy, bawdry and the best of contemporary song writing. Her four solo albums have won international acclaim. In November 2009, she was installed in the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, joining such luminaries as Jimmy Shand, Aly Bain, the Corries and Sheila Stewart.
Festival Organizers
Tracey Walker (Anne’s daughter), Eric Walker, Jim Taylor (Tom’s nephew), and Scott Gardiner on behalf of Cullerlie Farm Park and Ian and Norma Russell on behalf of The Elphinstone Institute
Thank you to our sponsors
Breedon AggregatesCoupers (Fish Processors) of AberdeenDavidson & Murison LtdThe Elgin Rotary Club The Friends of the Elphinstone Institute
- Hosted by
- Elphinstone Institute and Cullerlie Farm Park
- Venue
- Cullerlie Farm Park
- Contact