Outwith lines up live music day and kids events
AN ALL- DAY line up of live music will be on offer in Dunfermline as Outwith Festival returns to the city.
The event will feature musicians from across West Fife and the UK and take place in seven different venues on Saturday.
Kirsten Adamson, winner of the Live Music Award at the Dunfermline Press and Central Fife Times Community Champion Awards 2023, will be performing at The Brasshouse.
The daughter of Big Country’s Stuart Adamson, Kirsten honoured her dad earlier this year when she released a single titled ‘ My Father’s Songs.’
Last year she released a single in aid of children living in war- torn Ukraine.
For the single, Peace in Our Time, Kirsten was joined by a group of youngsters for the video, who reiterate the message: “Give us peace in our time.”
Her slot follows performances from Olivia Beattie and Eve Davidson at Fire Station Creative.
Olivia is a singer songwriter from Dunfermline and recently played at King Tuts in Glasgow as part of the venue’s Summer Nights series.
Eve, who was a finalist for the Press’ Live Music Award and is from Dalgety Bay, released her EP Ghosts last year.
In 2022 she performed at Immecke Festival in Germany and spent this summer playing at Anstruther Harbour Festival and graduating form the University of the West of Scotland.
Also representing Dunfermline and West Fife will be Sunstinger, The Sunset Spirit, Foreignfox, TamanFaya, For Pony, Sex on TV, Birrell or Biscuit, and Jupiter Strange.
Britain’s Got Talent star Cammy Barnes, from Methil, is also part of the line- up.
He appeared earlier this year on the TV contest, reaching the semi- final stage.
Since then he has announced a tour across Scotland, with two sold- out dates, and released a single, Bonnie’s Song.
He surprised fans by performing it on the steps of Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall last month alongside the Rock Choir.
He will be playing at the Royal British Legion on New Row.
Also from Fife are We Cry Wolf, a band from Leven who will take to the stage at McQ’s at Coadys.
Headliners, who will perform for more than an hour compared to the standard half- hour set, are Welsh alternative rock band The Joy Formidable; Scots guitarist, singer and activist Steve Mason; and Bristol band PhoxJaw.
The full line- up for September 9 and stage splits are available on the Outwith Festival website and social media.
Tickets for the day are £ 30, £ 32.50 with a booking charge, and available on the website.
Meanwhile, kids can get involved in the fun at Outwith Festival with a range of events aimed at young people.
There will be opportunities tomorrow ( Friday) to have a go at soap sculpture and zine- making workshops.
The soap sculpture sessions are for those aged 10 and over and will be held at Fire Station Creative at 12.30pm.
It will be led by Katie Strachan and take inspiration from artist Barbara Hepworth to create abstract models.
The Zine Machine workshop is open to all ages and will take place at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries ( DCLG) from 2.30pm.
You can get involved and make your own zine, with all materials provided, inspired by the Kingdom Come 1977- 1979 exhibition which is running in the gallery throughout the festival.
On Saturday there will be a family- friendly screening of Mulan at the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum from 9am.
Parents can enjoy coffee and snacks from the cafe while taking in the film.
Saturday also features the Dead Creative fun in the Dunfermline Abbey churchyard with a whole host of geological, historical and archaeological things to discover and do.
There are also still spaces left for the baby signing class at DCLG at 12pm.
The session will suit babies up to two years old and will provide a mix of useful signs, such as ‘ milk’ and ‘ food’.
In the afternoon young people can get involved with a free come- and- try instrument drop- in event at the library.
All ages are welcome and it will run between 1pm and 4pm in the Queen Margaret room.
In the evening there will also be the Under 18 Singer Songwriter Showcase at Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum.
On the final day of the festival, Sunday, there will be a second early morning children’s cinema event.
Also held at the birthplace museum from 9am, the film this time will be Baby’s Day Out.
There will still be plenty for kids to get involved in, with sold- out sensory bubble and drawing events but still space to get involved with comic strip making at Fire Station Creative.
Throughout the day families can also join the Woodland Experience sessions in the Glen for nature- based storytelling, games, foraging and other activities.
More information and tickets can be found on the outwithfestival. co. uk website.
“I’m always looking to transfer some of my passion to anyone who’s listening. I need them to know that spoken word and poetry is for them if they want it. There’s no real barrier to it.
“What makes spoken word and poetry so fantastic is that even if I wanted to write a song, I’d still have to learn an instrument, and that takes time to get decent. Spoken word doesn’t require a purchase!
“There is no barrier to you having a thought or feeling and then being able to express that thought or feeling.
“I try to impress that on any audience; you can have a go at this and there’s literally nothing stopping you. You don’t have to share it, either. You can write it just for you.”
Gilday has, however, been published widely since first dipping his toes in the water and whilst the benefits of publication cannot be ignored or understated, it is not what motivates him.
When asked what it is that poetry gives him, he pauses.
“I think it gives me a voice that I maybe didn’t have at any other point in my life,” he posits after momentary reflection.
“I think we have jobs in organisations, and we feel our voice is lost in there or it isn’t important; or maybe in relationships or families where our voice isn’t important or is not heard properly.
“For me, poetry was maybe the first time that I realised I do have a voice and not only that, but people are listening to it and resonating with it.
“It’s real, it’s reflecting back at me, and I can see that it actually makes some kind of difference in the world. It may not be a massive difference, but it is a difference.
“I can read a poem and it resonates with someone and it moves them, or I can read a poem and it makes someone shift their opinion on a topic just slightly, and these are real world outcomes for having your voice heard. That is an amazing thing. That keeps me coming back to it every time.
“It’s a platform to be able to say what you need to say in the world.”
Continuing to advocate the vulnerability publishing exposes you to, he says: “At that moment of it being out there, in a shop somewhere, it is no longer yours. It becomes everyone else’s at this point, and it is open to their interpretation and their biases and lived experiences.
“That’s scary s***, to be honest. You are open to attack, but you are open to every emotion.
“It is up to them to feel the way they feel about it. The thing you put into it may not be the thing they take it out of it. You have no control over that.
“That feeling of you having this thing that you are in control of, and it is fully yours, to then overnight no longer having any control over it and it is everyone’s… it is very exciting, liberating, and scary.
“It’s hard work and precarious but when you do it, it’s there and nobody can stop you. What else would I want to do with my time? Nothing.”
Kevin Gilday performs at Café Wynd in Dunfermline on Thursday, September 7 at 6pm. Tickets are available for £ 7 (£ 8.03 w/ booking fee) online at Eventbrite.
FOOD and foraging will be on offer at Dunfermline’s Outwith Festival for the first time this year.
The events will be held on Sunday in Pittencrieff Park, including cookery demonstrations and tastings in the glasshouse.
Food writer and expert Wendy Barrie will be there from 1.30pm leading audiences on a trip around Scotland, unveiling some of the country’s lesser- known ingredients along the way.
Wendy is the creator of the awardwinning Scottish Food Guide.
Fermenting expert Janice Clyne will also be on hand in the glasshouse from 11am for an interactive workshop and demonstration covering fermenting vegetables.
There will be a sampling of an array of ferments including Indian inspired carrot kraut, inflammation busting pineapple, turmeric, ginger kraut, spicy radish bombs and some brined veggies.
There will be Introduction to Foraging, Plants and Fungi guided walks through the Glen throughout the day accompanied by a knowledgeable forager with practical tips for safely adding wild ingredients into cooking.
The three guides, Graham and Christine Whitehouse of Whitehouse Foraging and Amy Rankine of Hipsters and Hobos are all members of the Association of Foragers and participated in the ‘ Wildbiome Project,’ surviving exclusively on wild foods for a month or more.
For families there will be a Woodland Experience held at 11am and at 1.30pm with nature activities for children.
Experts from Forth Pilgrim will help participants to re- connect with nature through storytelling, woodland skills, games, foraging and sampling wild food.
Also on Sunday will be a hands- on workshop where people can learn to make medicinal infused oil using plants from nature.
The Herbal Medicine Salve Making and Oil Infusion event will be held at 11am in Pittencrieff Park and will show audiences how to make a salve which they can take home with them.
At 2pm forager and herbalist Stef Stewart from Oak and Wildflower will explore the healing power of herbal medicine and provide a guided and supportive relaxation session.
Gael Wilkinson of Kin Bees will also be hosting a session to talk about bees, honey and sustainability in Pittencrieff House but this is now sold out.
All the Outwith foraging events on September 10 are also listed as part of Foraging Fortnight, run by NatureScot.
More information and tickets are available on the outwithfestival. co. uk website.