IAYS OUT
COMPLEE AUGUST LISTINGS
This section gives details of selected events taking place in and around the Central Belt of Scotland. Events are listed by area and then alphabetically. All submissions should be accompanied by a contact phone number for our information. Days out compiled by Thom 0ibdin.
This issue, Days Out covers events until Thursday September 8, as there just won’t be the space to fit them all in during our bumper weekly coverage of the Edinburgh festival. Get your diary out now!
BOROERS
I TRAOUAIR FAIR Sat 6/Sun 7 Aug. 11am—6pm. Traquair House. Innerleithen. Peebleshire. £8 (£5). Also SHEEP ANO WOOL OAY Sun 31 Jul. 10.30am—5.30pm. £3.50 (£1.50). 08% 830785/830323. See photo caption.
CENTRAL & TAYSIOE
I REATING THE RETREAT Sun 21.
9—1 lprn. Stirling Castle Esplanade. Stirling Castle. £5 (£4). 0786 473544. See photo caption.
I ORUMMONO CASTLE GARDENS OPEN OAY Sun 7 Aug. 2—6pm. Druminond Castle. Muthill. by Crieff. Perthshire. £2 (£1). See photo caption.
I FALNIRK FAMILY SHOW Sat 20/Sun 21 Aug. l—5pm. Callendar Park. Falkirk. Free. Stonking family day out. with
music. entertainments. charity market. exhibitions and other attractions in the Main Arena. Famin lt’s-a-Knockout with six local teams on the Saturday and the Ana Huiac traditional Mexican dance troup fresh from the Edinburgh festival. Sunday gets more adventurous with the Vander Brothers’ Wheel of Death, and the Skyriders motorcycle trapeze act. All weekend there will be russian folk music. dance and crafts from Russian Carousel. I GREEN GALA Sat 20 Aug. 11.30am—7pm. Cochrane Park. Alva. Free. Greenpeace will be the beneficiary of this gala day with stalls. Highland dancing. car boot sale and five-a-side footy competition. From 1—7pm a variety of bands of the folk. rock and blues persuasion. including Happy But Twisted. will be providing live entertainment. In the evening. 7pm—late. there will be a ceilidh in the Cochrane Hotel with music provided by Burach. Tickets for Ceilidh cost £5 (£3).
OUMFRIES 8: GALLOWAY
I ALTERNATIVE GAMES Sun 7, l—5pm. Loch Ken Holiday Park. Parton. near Castle Douglas. £2.50 (£1.50) car park £1. It‘s the wnpteenth Scottish Alternative Games at Parton. with such wacky field events as Hurlin’ the Curlin’ Stane. Tossin‘ the Sheaf. Spinnin’ the Peerie and Flingin’ the Herd’s Bunnet. Track events
' include skipping races. Hop Scotch and
the helter-skelter excitement of snail
I INTERNATIONAL ROCKET WEEKEND Frl 26—Mon 29 Aug, Kelburn Country Centre, Kelburn Castle, Fairlie, Ayrshire. 0475 568 685. £3.50 (£2). This weekend of rocketing organised by STAAB Research is mainly for serious rocket fanatics although there will be flying displays for the public on the Saturday (3-4pm) and competitive flying on the Sunday (from 1pm). Kelbum has organised a kid-orientated event over every weekend In August to add to their already highly kid-orientated attractions, which include the newly built Secret Forest area with its maze (pictured above) and daily falconry displays at 1.30 and 3.30pm. on Sunday 4 September Kelburn takes part in the Largs Viking Festival with a Viking nay, including displays of Viking battle skills, hand to band combat and children’s Viking games. Leave the kids to get on with it as you wander round the Castle (£1.50 extra charge) and grounds or have a quiet cup of tea in the tearoom. The Centre is open daily, 10.30am—5pm.
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I ISLE 0F MAY VISITS Daily. Isle of May, Forth Estuary. Ferry from Anstruther, Fife. Phone 0333 310103 for ferry times, bookings and costs. Until July the cliffs of May are covered with breeding birds, but during August the reason to visit the island is a bit more down-to-earth. A team of six archaeologists will be excavating the 12th century monastery which has Iain untouched for the last 500 years. Each boat is met by an archaeologist who leads visitors on a guided tour of the excavations and finds. To whet your interest, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther has an exhibition and video display of the dig. 0n the island there is also a restored windmill that was built in the 17703 to pump sea water up to supply saltpan houses which used locally mined coal to evaporate the water to make salt.
racing. With the world Gird'n'Cleek championships to fight for there should be grand excitement in the air while the glamour pusscs will clamour to help choose the ‘Most Beautiful Sheep’ at the sheep show. Practice sessions for all games last from l—2pm. when the first games get under starter's orders. Entry to the Games includes free entry to all events. so get practising now. You never know. you might come away with a prize. First prize for all events is a haggis. second prize a clootie dumpling and third a Scotch pie. Refreshments and the all- important beer tent.
I PALNACKIE FLOUNOER TRAMPING CHAMPIONSHIP Sat 30 Jul. 1 lam—2.30pm. Urr Estuary. Palnackie. £1. Flounders used to be a tasty. although bony staple food around estuaries where they settle down into the mud during low tide. Easy pickings. if you don't mind wading through the receding waters waiting for your bare feet to step on a wriggly fish. Exercising the ancient skill ofcreating a new ‘tradition' over a few pints down the pub. a couple of local likely lads founded the trarnping championships a couple of decades ago. The timing obviously depends on the local tide. so make sure you‘re down there early to suss out the best wading spot. Prizes go to the largest fish, which can weigh up to 31b. Weighing in begins at 2.30pm. Fishing is reputed to be the most popular sport in the world. but this surely takes the biscuit.
I CRAFT FAIR AND FAMILY FUN OAY Sun 28 Aug. Ham—4.30pm. Museum of Lead Mining. Goldscaur Row. Wanlockhead. 0659 74387. 50p (25p). Street entertainers, a bouncy castle, music and a free kid’s meal with every adult meal are the draw for this family day at Scotland's . highest village. Gold has been mined in the village since the 15th century and locally washed gold was used in James V’s crown. now on display in Edinburgh Castle. Wanlockhead is now more closely associated with lead mining and the museum (open daily. Ham-4.30pm) has many displays associated with the industry, including the Lochnell Visitor mine.
LOTHIANS 8r FIFE
I ABEROOUR FESTIVAL Sat 30 Jul—Sun 7 Aug. Various venues around Aberdour. Fife. Programme details and tickets from 0383 860153. Annual festival with a wide variety of entertainments. The opening gala and village sports take place on Saturday 30. noon—5pm at the Silver Sands playing fields. On Sunday a Poems and Pints event takes place at the Aberdour Hotel. 8.30—1 1pm. hosted by lain ‘mortar-mouth' Grant. The highlight of the festival takes place on Monday I at the West Sands beach. 10.30am—noon. with the sandcastle competition. Competitors will not be allowed recourse to mechanical digging aids such as JCBs.
CO The List 29 July—1 1 August 1994