Major cities, towns and villages

Banff, Buckie, Elgin, Forres, Grantown-on-Spey, Keith, Lossiemouth, Nairn, Portsoy.

Upcoming Events by Keith Branch

• Keith Festival

  9 June - 11 June

News from Keith Branch

The Keith Traditional Music and Song Association (TMSA) Festival returns in-person from Friday 10th–Sunday 12th June 2022 with a whole weekend of events throughout the friendly town being held for music and song lovers.

The Festival officially begins on the Friday evening with revellers having a variety of events to attend. A Bothy Ballads & Other Songs concert will be held in the Plough Inn (sponsored by Shears Hair & Beauty Retreat and Lifestyle Magazine). Following the concert in the Plough, at around 10.30pm, there will be a free sing-a-round where attendees can either join in, take part or just listen. For those who prefer to dance along to the traditional music an Old Time Dance is being held in the British Legion (sponsored by Alex Grant & Co and Strathdee Properties) with music being provided by Robert Whitehead & his Scottish Dance Band. An informal music session will begin in the Bowling Club at 9pm led by Steven Carcary & The Mayfield Group.

On Saturday the day starts with the official TMSA competitions (sponsored by Alex Grant & Co) being published on the Festival website. The Bothy Ballad Competition is the only competition to be held in-person this year with competitors vying for the sought-after place in the Bothy Ballad Champion of Champions Competition in Elgin as well as the Lona & Jim Thomson Memorial Trophy. Spectators are welcome to attend from 1.30pm in the Bowling Club. Saturday will also see informal music sessions in the Deli Shop, Boogie Woogie, The Ploo, The Royal and the Railway Club as well as a sing-a-round in The Ploo.

The winners from the virtual competitions will perform in Prizewinners Concert (sponsored by Alex Grant & Co) published on Facebook and YouTube at 6.30pm and will be shown in The Ploo lounge.

The headline act on Saturday night are Scottish super group Manran. They will be performing at the Concert in the Royal Hotel (sponsored by Boogie Woogie, Connor Wilson Vehicles & Barbara Coutts Fiddle School). The ever-popular Concert in the Bowling Club will also be held at 8pm (sponsored by Peterkins, Tidy Green Clean and Roehill Springs).

Sunday’s official programme begins at 1pm in the Bowling Club when kids can go along to enjoy music and song at the Bairns Ceilidh and there will be a variety of sessions and sing-a-rounds throughout the day.

2pm sees the start of the free Open Air Concert (sponsored by Alex Grant & Co and Keith Royal British Legion) which takes place in Reidhaven Square. In the event of bad weather the concert will take place in the Royal Hotel.

The Chorus Quaich Competition (sponsored by Springfield Properties) takes place in the Plough Inn lounge with a start time of 3.30pm. Anyone can enter this free competition providing that the song they choose contains a chorus.

The Festival officially finishes with the Farewell Concert in the Royal Hotel (sponsored by Alex Grant & Co, Lifestyle Magazine and E W Simmers) beginning at 7.30pm. This is a chance for people to say cheerio to new and old friends.
However, it doesn’t completely finish there as the Plough Inn is host to the Orange Juice Ceilidh on Monday afternoon.

Festival committee Chairman Kathleen Anderson said:

“We’re ready and raring to go with this year’s festival and we’re absolutely delighted that we can do it again in-person.

“We have, once again, managed to attract a high-quality list of guest artists with a good mix of music and song with guest artistes from all over the country. We’ve all missed live music so much so we can’t wait!

“We are delighted to have the wonderful Manran headlining this year. They are a hugely energetic group and I hope that folk take the chance to see and hear such an acclaimed band.

“The sing-a-rounds and sessions open the playing and singing up to everyone who wants to take part and I am sure that these will be as popular as ever.

“The main thing about our festival is that people enjoy themselves and I have no doubt that everyone who comes along or takes part will do just that.”

The Keith TMSA Festival runs from Friday 10th June to Sunday 12th June in various venues throughout the town.

Tickets for Manran can be purchased at www.keithfestival.com/manran and tickets for all events are available from Mither Tongue, Mid Street, Keith; by phoning Sandy on (01542) 882638; and from the Festival office located within the Royal Hotel on the weekend. For full details log on to the website www.keithfestival.com or e-mail keithfestival@gmail.com. Follow the festival on Facebook at www.facebook.com/keithfestival or on Twitter @KeithFestival.

Contact

21 Union Terrace
Keith
Banffshire
AB55 5EQ

Email: kilvrecht21@aol.com