Blair Rotarians to be main sponsors
Local book festival gets £2100 to boost the event
The Rotary Club of Blairgowrie has been announced as the main sponsors for part of this year’s BOOKMARK festival in October.
The news came on Saturday last week at a special fundraising event in Laird’s of Blairgowrie in aid of the showcase.
The local Rotary Club has sponsored the festival to the tune of £2100 allowing organisers to attract big names such as Sally Magnusson, Stuart MacBride, Maggie O’Farrell, James Naughtie and Sir John Lister Kaye to the event.
Literature-lovers at the ‘spirit of BOOKMARK’ fundraising event were able to purchase specially discounted tickets for the festival as well as enjoy an afternoon of gin, whisky and chocolate tastings with Strathearn Distillery and Shona Sutherland from Blairgowrie’s Taystful.
There was also a buffet lunch made by volunteers from the BOOKMARK team and stalls from a variety of local organisations involved with the festival including the One Voice Volunteer Group, the Blairgowrie Players and Jam Entertains.
Welcoming everyone to the event and thanking the Rotary, festival chair Christine Findlay said: “BOOKMARK would not happen without funding and sponsors and we have been particularly fortunate over the years in this regard.
“The Rotary Club of Blairgowrie has been very supportive of us since we started and this year they have gone to the next level and have sponsored all the sessions on the Saturday.
“We are hugely appreciative of their contribution, it has made an enormous difference to the quality of the programme that we are able to offer.
“We have also had support from the Proctor Group, Perth and Kinross Council and McCarthy and Stone this year which we are very grateful for as well.
“Here at BOOKMARK we are very much looking forward to welcoming the likes of Sally Magnusson, Stuart MacBride, Maggie O’Farrell, James Naughtie and Sir John Lister Kaye to the festival in October and would encourage everyone to get their tickets early to avoid potential disappointment.”
Christine went on: “This year we have linked up with the Blairgowrie Players for the first time who will be performing a special production ‘Whisky Galore - The Radio Play’ on the Sunday after the festival, extending the reach of the festival and encouraging visitors to stay in the area for an extra day.
“And in the run-up to the event we are delighted to announce that some of Scotland’s finest poets will be coming together at the beautiful Garden Studio venue in Straloch to read some of their poems inspired by some of the paintings in the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Collection.
“There will also be a number of children’s events at schools throughout Blairgowrie and Rattray, featuring winner of the Scottish Children’s Book Prize, author Ross MacKenzie, among others.”
Jim Irving, president of the Rotary Club in Blairgowrie, added: “We are very proud to sponsor the book festival, and having been involved with it for the last three years we thought it would be good to sponsor a whole day this year.
“The programme on Saturday is very interesting and we are delighted to be associated with it.
“The Rotary Club supports many international and local charities, including the Freedom Coach, the Riding for the Disabled Association, Blairgowrie High School and Blairgowrie Highland Games.
“We also support Sally Magnusson’s charity, Playlist for Life, so it is a very happy coincidence that she is appearing at this year’s festival.”
Brigadier Melville Jameson, Lord Lieutenant of Perth and Kinross, was one of the guests at the fundraising event. He told the Blairie: “The festival itself looks set to be a great weekend, all the events are well worth attending with some big names coming to Blairgowrie.
“Well done to the BOOKMARK team for a great event and for pulling together a fantastic programme for October.”
The main BOOKMARK event takes place from October 7-8 at Blairgowrie Community Campus.
Copies of the programme are available from various outlets in the town including the One Voice office on Upper Mill Street.
Tickets are on sale now and are available online at www. bookmarkblair.com or from the One Voice office.