A Brand New Festival For Dumfries & Galloway – and a first for Scotland!
Something very exciting is brewing across the region as Dumfries and Galloway gets set to host the first ever ‘Ukulele Festival of Scotland’ this May. The Festival will be held over the weekend of 6 to 8 May 2016, with some 39 performers from around the world who will come to our region for three days of concerts, workshops, jam sessions and much more.
This is the first annual Ukulele Festival of Scotland and it will take place across a number of venues on the Crichton in Dumfries. This is promising to be a most fantastic event bringing you some of the best in worldwide acts as well as home-grown favourites.
On Saturday and Sunday there will be three main concerts with famous and favourite performers from the ukulele community. Acts include local artist Zoe Bestel from Wigtownshire, Canadians James Hill, and Manitoba Hall, the Lucky Leles from Germany, as well as Ceci N’est Past Ukolollo from Italy and so many more!
Alongside the concerts there will be 16 workshops for all playing abilities, jam sessions as well as open mic and of course a bazaar to purchase the latest instruments and music. For those participants and visitors, who are looking to see something of the beautiful scenery around the region but do not wish to miss out on some fine ukulele music there is the Big Beach Bus Busk Tour! On Sunday morning, the bus will take you on a 50-miles round trip to some fantastic local beaches – while playing the ukulele – and you will be back for the grand finale concert in the afternoon!
The weekend starts off with a buffet and jam session on the Friday evening allowing things to go off to a very friendly and sociable start.
Easterbrook Hall and the adjoining rooms as well as the Holiday Inn Hotel will be the main venues for the festival. However, the Saturday morning Fiesta Concert and the Sunday Session Concert which consists of a youth and New Performers’ competition is being hosted in the beautiful Crichton Church. What an amazing venue for all the emerging talent!
This double first has been pulled together thanks to Stuart and Linda Butterworth from Rockcliffe, Dumfries & Galloway.
The husband and wife team are a force to be reckoned with! Stuart is Mr Ukulele – he runs a number of ukulele workshops across parts of Dumfries & Galloway, with over 100 members! He also teaches music and together with his wife runs a number of local children nurseries. Linda and Stuart have four adopted children themselves and though not from Dumfries & Galloway have very much taken the region into their hearts and are giving a lot to the local communities.
The Ukulele Festival of Scotland is providing a three-day family friendly event in the most stunning setting of the Crichton Estate. Whether you are an accomplished ukulele player or are just looking for some huge variety of music in one place this festival weekend is the right place for you. With weekend tickets of only £39.99 per adult/”29.99 for over 60’s, unemployed, disabled and under 18’s (access to all weekend activities, except accommodation, workshops, big beach bus and Friday buffet) . Just click the website HERE to book your tickets.
All in all, we hope that this music festival will become another regular event in the fantastic musical calendar of Dumfries & Galloway.
We are looking forward to seeing you all at the Ukulele Festival in Dumfries next month!
