Right Carry On at Camp

History is brought to life

Military vehicles and jitterbug dancing will make Comrie the place to be this Saturday for any wartime history enthusiasts.

The Carry On, Culty family event at Cultybraggan Camp, the former Second World War prisoner of war (POW) camp, is on from 10am-4pm, followed by the The Shaky Toon Hop in the White Church from 7pm.

Cultybraggan Camp was run during the war by the MOD, then acquired by the people of Comrie in 2007 through the Comrie Development Trust which has worked to preserve the camp’s heritage and to make use of it for the benefit of the local community.

On the day, there will be more than 30 vintage military vehicles and various living history displays at Cultybraggan, including KampfGruppeSchottland, a German reenactors group which will play the part of POWs.

Carry On, Culty will also have cadet displays, a swing band, pipe band, the first ever showing 66 amazing cartoons drawn by a prisoner in 1944/45 and the launch of a new documentary film about the detention camp.

The film ‘Cultybraggan’ will feature battlefield historian Dr Iain Banks from the University of Glasgow, and Professor Suzie Thomas from the University of Helsinki in Finland, who will speak about the unique significance of Cultybraggan, and the importance of preserving the camp and its history for future generations.

The documentary has been made by St Fillans-based production company, Mousehole Films.

It includes interviews with Rhona and Catriona Smyth, who used their brother Euan’s school uniform to smuggle a German prisoner, who’d built up a relationship with the local community, out for the night to go to the cinema.

Visitors tomorrow can expect food and drink, raffles, stalls and lots more. There’s even a vintage 1943 double-decker bus, courtesy of Stagecoach, running between Comrie and the camp to bring people to the event.

Go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ carry-on-culty-tickets-42707047930

Then in the evening, live swing band, That Swing Sensation, relocates to the White Church and will be joined by vintage dance experts, Fly Right Dance Company, for the Shaky Toon Hop.

There’s jitterbug dancing, the local Comrie pipe band and Highland dancing at the White Church in Comrie from 7pm11pm, for tickets (£10) go to https://www. eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shaky-toon-hoptickets-44750704562

All funds raised will help Comrie Development Trust continue its work to preserve and develop the camp for the future.