£1,500 raised for Barnardo’s Scotland’s work for children as festival nearly doubles in size in a single year
With final attendance figures now in Big Burns Supper organisers have revealed a string of successes for last week’s festival.
They have also announced the winners in the annual contest for the best show and performer of the event.
One top of that, the festival and Barnardo’s Scotland have said a huge “thank you” to all those who made donations to Big Burns Supper’s first ever partner charity – raising over £1,500 for its work with children.
Graham Main, Big Burns Supper Artistic Director, said: “We’d really like to thank all the community groups, performers, schools, volunteers, audience members and others who came together to make this such a huge event. As a proud Doonhamer I love to see our town and region shine.
“Our final figures are just brilliant – for example we served 5,000 Burns Suppers, had the largest Burns Night carnival in the world and entertained 30,000 people – well up on our original estimate of 26,000. Overall our audiences have just about doubled, which is phenomenal.
“At the same time, thanks to the generosity of the public we also raised over £1,500 for Barnardo’s Scotland, our partner charity, which does so much to help children in this region and all across the country.”
Jordyn Armstrong, Fundraising Events Co-ordinator for Barnardo’s Scotland, added: “We are so proud to have been chosen by Big Burns Supper as the first charity partner, and overwhelmed by the generosity of the general public who donated over £1,500, all of which will go towards helping children and young people in the local area.
“I would also like to thank Graham and his team, on behalf of my colleagues, volunteers and Todd, for making us so welcome at the event and we wish them all the best for the future.”
BBS 2015 featured around 140 events and shows, in a series of venues, during a nine-day festival of contemporary and traditional culture and a huge public celebration of the birthday of Scotland’s national Bard, Robert Burns, in his beloved town of Dumfries.
Each year judges attend all of the shows to decide on a series of awards. For 2015 the nominations and results were:
Best Show
Nominees:
• Craig Hill
• Janis Joplin – Full Tilt
• Hamish the Haggis
• New York Brass Band
Winner – the New Orleans jazz inspired New York Brass Band
Spirit of the Festival
This award highlights the artist or show which best embodies the spirit of the festival.
Nominees:
• Dumfries Community Choir
• Eden Festival – opening show
• Dilton Colthart – Burst
• Holly Little – Caelaig
Winner – Holly Little of contemporary and traditional Scottish music trio Caelaig
Best Performance
Nominees:
• Grant Dinwoodie – Le Haggis
• Justine Squire – Le Haggis
• Angela Darcy – Janis Joplin – full tilt
• Sir Leopold Aleksander – Le Haggis
Winner – Justine Squire – aerial performer in Le Haggis (Scotland’s sexiest cabaret)
Graham said: “The awards recognise the sheer excellence of the performers and the shows they put on here. They pitch international and national acts against ones which are home-grown in D&G and what’s been brilliant this year is just how impressed our judges were with Le Haggis, our very own cabaret show which seems to be going from strength to strength.”
Big Burns Supper is part of Scotland’s Winter Festivals (a programme of events managed by EventScotland on behalf of the Scottish Government) and attracts thousands of visitors from across the UK and overseas.
The festival is made possible by support from many organisations including Creative Scotland, 8020 and Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Beacon Event Programme.
Once again BBS has teamed up with other local festivals and promoters to present eclectic club nights which include the Eden Opening Party.
The carnival is supported by the Robertson Trust, Holywood Trust and Awards for All. Year of Food and Drink Scotland will build on the momentum generated by Homecoming Scotland 2014 with a series of exciting events and activities celebrating Scotland’s outstanding natural larder.
This year Big Burns Supper has teamed up with Barnardo’s Scotland as its first ever charity partner. Text BURNS to 70500 to donate £3 to Barnardo’s Scotland.
