Wool Gatherers
Portsoy's Bothy Knitters are looking for donations of your odds and ends of knitting wool. They are about to take part in a record breaking blanket knitting attempt, as part of a major funding and awareness raising project for Alzheimer Scotland. They will contribute to the hoped for 71000 knitted squares, representing the number of dementia sufferers in Scotland in 2010. The squares will be sewn into a massive blanket measuring 710 square metres, which will beat the current world record by 154 square metres.The end product will later be divided, to provide warm blankets for those who need them.
Bothy Knitters, who come from Banff, Macduff and Aberchirder as well as Portsoy, knit for a variety of charities. On Saturday they raised £160 on behalf of Alzheimer Scotland, at a fair held in the Salmon Bothy, Portsoy. Over the last two years, they have raised more than £800 for charities such as RNLI, Maggies House, Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen, and Premature Babies. The group meets each Monday between 10.00 and 12.00, at the Salmon Bothy, Portsoy and as well as knitting, have a great deal of fun swapping recipes, telling stories and even sharing plants. Newcomers are very welcome. No previous experience of knitting is necessary as regulars are always willing to lend a hand.
Since the group relies on donations of wool for its various projects, they are very keen to hear from you if you have any to pass on. Any oddments of wool, ends of balls, any colour or thickness would be very welcome. If you have wool which could find a use, please don't hesitate to drop it into the Bothy office, or contact Lorna Summers on 01261 832935. Likewise, if you would like to knit some squares, for the blanket project, measuring 10cm by 10cm, the group would be delighted to hear from you.
Salmon Bothy Secures Grant to Introduce Slam Poetry to NE Scotland.
We are delighted to announce that the Salmon Bothy has been successful in securing a grant of £4500 to go towards a project that will introduce Slam Poetry to the NE. We are privileged to be the only place in Scotland to receive this award that will bring professional Slam poets into Banff Academy and local primary schools to work with pupils. The end product will be a finale performance and a publication. This has the potential to really inspire, excite and build confidence in the creative writing skills of local young people. Watch this space for further details of the project.
Press Release by the Clore Duffield Foundation:
THIRTEEN UK ORGANISATIONS SHARE £100,000 FROM CLORE DUFFIELD FOUNDATION FOR POETRY AND LITERATURE
Thirteen organisations across the UK have been announced as recipients of over £100,000 in grants from the new Clore Poetry and Literature Awards funded by the Clore Duffield Foundation. The Awards are worth a total of £1m over five years, 2011 to 2015, with two funding rounds a year.
The new programme is designed specifically to target the development of imaginative new poetry and literature initiatives for children and young people, in and out of school.
LONDON:
English PEN for Brave New Words
A project to encourage young refugees and asylum seekers to write poems in their own language before translating them into English, working with a poet and a translator. Grant: £9,500
Lister Community School for E13 Word Olympics Festival 2012
A partnership between the E13 Learning Community of Newham Schools and Theatre Royal Stratford East, involving three rounds of after-school workshops in poetry/rap, short story writing and playwriting, with selected work culminating in performances by Youth Theatre members from the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Grant: £5,000
The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) for Poetry Project
Working with two primary schools over a full academic year, the project will include workshops for children at each key stage, poetry performance, website resources, and classroom materials, which will be made available to all schools on the CLPE‟s Poetryline website. Grant: £9,420
Spread the Word for Women of the Future
London‟s writer development agency, Spread the Word, will work with four London schools with a diverse intake to encourage girls aged 13-18 to participate in creative writing sessions led by children‟s writer Lucy Ivison. The project will include publication of an anthology of poems, marked by an evening of readings by the girls. Grant: £8,769
EAST ENGLAND:
Wisbech and Fenland Museum for Young Poet Laureate for Fenland
Working with the local arts organisation, Atelier East, and up to 12 local schools, the Museum will run a Young Poet Laureate contest to engage young writers in the Fenland area. There will be classroom packs, poetry days at four Fenland museums and a publication. Grant: £6,000
EAST MIDLANDS:
Derbyshire County Council Library Service for Derbyshire Poetry
A project for young people in care in Derbyshire to experience poetry and literature through creative writing workshops led by professional poets, culminating in an exhibition or performance at the Big Book Bash in 2012. Grant: £10,000
NORTH EAST:
New Writing North for Young Writers Activity in Book Festival Towns
This project will seek to develop a year-round young people‟s programme in the Book Festival towns of Hexham and Durham. There will be a week-long summer school in each town, leading to the establishment of fortnightly young writers groups; young programmers groups to advise on festival events; reading groups; and each Festival will showcase the young people‟s work. Grant: £8,000
NORTHERN IRELAND:
Big Telly Theatre Company in Portstewart for Plays on Words
A playwriting programme involving approximately 240 young people aged 10-14 from eight school groups in the development of new plays. 12 of the plays will be rehearsed and performed with the support of a dramaturg, director and actors.
Grant: £4,975
SCOTLAND: Scottish Traditional Boat Festival in Banffshire for
Slam Poetry @ the Salmon Bothy
Aiming to introduce Slam Poetry to young people in the North East of Scotland. Two Slam Poets will spend five days working with the local secondary school and in eight associated primary schools to encourage new writing, with the opportunity for public performance and a publication. Grant: £4,500
SOUTH WEST:
Kernow Education Arts Partnership for Writing Squad Kernow
A project to establish a young people‟s writing „squad‟, which will meet and train regularly with professional writers, writing stories to be performed in Falmouth shops at Christmas; planning special interventions at Eden‟s Bright Young Things showcase; and producing stories and poetry for the Port Eliot Festival. The project will be documented on film. Grant £9,000
WEST MIDLANDS:
City of Wolverhampton College for OpenPage : Pressplay
An intensive six-month programme bringing together three separate departments of Wolverhampton College to support a group of young people in establishing a love of literature through an exploration of books as films. They will work to create two short film adaptations of classic novels. Grant: £8,000
YORKSHIRE:
Sheffield City Council Libraries for Concrete World, Concrete Dreams …
A local artist will be resident in a new library on the Parson Cross Housing Estate, one of the largest and most neglected estates in Sheffield, to encourage involvement in the new building. The artist will work with young people in a variety of media, including journalism, spoken word, written word, rap, and performance, to chart a journey through the local area, culminating in a final performance. Grant: £7,500
Signposts for The South Yorkshire Poetry Slam
Signposts is South Yorkshire‟s literature development agency. This grant will support the organisation of a Poetry Slam, which will be run between 12 secondary schools in Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield and Doncaster – all cities with successful writing groups for young people – and will involve over 600 young people in taking part in the competition with the support of writer-tutors. Grant: £10,000
Dame Vivien Duffield, Chair of the Clore Duffield Foundation, said: “I am absolutely delighted at the response we have had from organisations and schools all over the country to our call for ideas to encourage young people to get involved in poetry and literature. I passionately believe that all children and young people should experience the power of literature, and its potential for communicating ideas, opinions and emotions – it can have a truly lasting impact on their lives.”
Michael Rosen, Writer and Trustee of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education said: “Reading, writing and performing poetry gives children a chance to treat language as something that you, the user, can change and control; a chance to use your voice and your body as a way of expressing feelings and thoughts; a chance to put feelings and thoughts of all kinds into words; which in turn gives you a chance to organise your mind; a chance to share cultures; a chance to have fun. The contribution of the Clore Duffield Foundation to the work we do at CLPE is of crucial importance. By supporting us, they are in effect supporting these practices on the local level. We welcome this, appreciate it and are extremely grateful that CLPE are now in a position to make progress with these ideas and activities.”
The Clore Duffield Foundation is a grant-making charity which concentrates its support on cultural learning, creating learning spaces within arts and heritage organisations, leadership training for the cultural and social sectors, social care, and enhancing Jewish life. The Foundation is chaired by Dame Vivien Duffield DBE.
The closing date for entries to Round 2 of the Clore Poetry and Literature Awards is Friday 30 September 2011. For full details go to www.cloreduffield.org.uk
The Clore Duffield Foundation is a supporter of the Cultural Learning Alliance, a collective voice working to ensure that all children and young people have access to culture. www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk
9 September 2011
PRESS ENQUIRIES: Jane Quinn/Tamsin Selby, Bolton & Quinn 020 7221 5000 tamsin@boltonquinn.com14th and 15th May
Friday night, the Bothy welcomed top guitarist Andy Clayburn all the way from New York City. His family stay near Portsoy hence his visit and the we felt extremely privileged to host this excellent musician. A packed out Bothy was proof of this man’s talent and popularity, and he certainly did not disappoint. Playing a variety of his own songs and the likes of the Stones, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, the we really were in for a treat. We hope he will come back to the Bothy on his next UK (Portsoy) visit.
Festival Of Museums - Farming around Portsoy: The way it was.
Saturday - The picture sums it up. It really was a jam packed day. Traditional cookery demos from Liz Ashworth and Jill Urquhart ensured we were well fed. Porridge for breakfast, local smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for lunch and freshly made bannocks with a dollop of jam from Letty's Preserves for afternoon tea!
An array of fascinating artefacts were on display both inside and outside the bothy. An old Fordson Major tractor, a Reaper that had been made in the local MacDonald Brothers Foundry, Butter Churns, and Milk bottles were amongst some of the exhibits. All items were very kindly lent from local people from nearby farms. A presentation of digital images showed a selection of local historical farming photographs allowing people to sit down, reminisce and take it all in to the tune of traditional Bothy ballads typical to this area.
We are so grateful to all our wonderful volunteers who helped to put the exhibition together and to those who were kind enough to lend us their treasured items for everyone to enjoy.
The Saturday night continued the theme with traditional Bothy Ballads, dancing, singing and participation…It really was a rare nicht!
See some more photos at www.salmonbothy.org.uk/archive.html
Wednesday 6th April - Puppet Show at the Bothy
Many thanks to all who came along to this afternoon's puppet show, The
Steadfast Tin Soldier. It was a great success with almost a full house
(about 50-50 adults to kids), and our thanks go to Joy Haynes of
Banyan Theatre for her skill and technique in telling a story, and
keeping calm a crowd of very young children. A lovely lady and a
gifted performer.
It ended the way all puppet shows should - with the grown-ups wiping
away a clandestine tear, and the kids jumping around planning their
next raid on the ice cream shop.
Special thanks to Joy, her roadie Ian Halket of the Folding Theatre
Company; John and Helen Munro for doing almost everything else - box
office, raffle, stickers, balloons and general jollity and did I say
balloons?; Doris and Anne for being kind and looking after everybody;
and thanks to our latest recruit, Ursula who was very helpful. May
they all live happily ever after ....
The end.
Upstairs at the Bothy - a unique venue
This picture was taken on the special day of Omar and Emma's Wedding. The band Moonshine Madness were acompnied by the groom Omar Afif for a fusion of traditional Morrocan music with Scottish and Irish folk. It made for a a floor packed evening of dancing! For details of hiring Upstairs at the Bothy call us on 01261842951
Cash in the Bothy at Quality Napkins
Bothy volunteers Moya (left) and Jack Elliott (right) found a bothy
full of cash when they visited John Hall at his Quality Napkins shop
in Aberchirder’s Main Street. Mr Hall had kindly offered to put a
charity box for the bothy on his counter, and former art teacher Jack built this special miniature wooden version of the bothy as a
collection box.
In just a fortnight, the box held the magnificent total of £269. The
money was donated by visitors to the shop, who had enjoyed the free coffee and delicious home-baked scones served in the shop’s tabled area. Every month, the donations box is exchanged for one from another local charity, so if you want to help the bothy, get down to Foggie
this month! (November2010)
Bothy awarded Provisional Accreditation
The Salmon Bothy has taken a giant step towards becoming a four star Visit Scotland attraction, and offering an even better experience to visitors.
The bothy’s museum has been awarded provisional museum accreditation by Museums Galleries Scotland, the body which acts as the voice and expert body for over 350 Scottish museums and galleries.
Sinclair Broomfield is one of the volunteers on the bothy’s accreditation group.
He explains: “Accreditation is important because it demonstrates that we offer a good experience to our visitors, and recognises the quality of care for our collections.
“Now that we are a member of Museums Galleries Scotland, it also gives us access to services and information about museum development. 
“It’s great to be part of a big organisation like MGS. We can use their experience and expert advice for things like lighting and audio systems. “They can advise us on funding and we get access to grants and training.“This will help us to achieve a four star visitor attraction rating with Visit Scotland.”
Bothy director Anne McArthur (left) and accreditation group member Nessie Gray examine the new paddles which help visitors to understand the objects in the museum
The bothy is the
headquarters for the Scottish Traditional Boat festival, and is owned by the festival. Festival chairman Roger Goodyear added: “We’re absolutely delighted to achieve such a major step forward, particularly after our recent awards for the restoration of the building.“This wasn’t an easy task, and was a real team effort.” The accreditation process has been going on for the past two years, but the really intensive work started just over a year ago.
Mr Broomfield paid tribute to the accreditation team of volunteers. “We are very pleased indeed, and it is also great credit to the rest of the accreditation sub group – Leanne Watt, Moya Elliott, Nessie Gray, Roger Goodyear, Sandra Cumming, Len Murray, Hazel Broomfield and Dr Bertie.”
Mr Broomfield paid tribute to the museum’s curatorial advisor, Dr David Bertie of Aberdeenshire Council: “He and his staff have been very helpful. I am particularly pleased for Leanne, the bothy manager, currently on maternity leave, for all her hard work.”
Mr Broomfield explained the main improvements to the museum which have resulted: “All objects are now labelled, and linked to hand-held information paddles which explain what the objects are. “There are also files containing additional information for people to dip into. It is much more organised for the visitor.”
To reach the national accreditation standard, museums must meet requirements for disabled access, recording feedback from visitors, record keeping, the care of collections, security, and developing systems for recording what the museum holds, and where it comes from. Other tasks include monitoring temperature and humidity, and health and safety. Mr Broomfield said: “As is normal practice, our first accreditation is a provisional one for six months, but the list of conditions we have to meet for full accreditation is very short, and achievable.
“We have been told by MGS that our application was a very good one, and that it is unusual to have been given such a short list of conditions for full accreditation.”
Museums with full accreditation are eligible to participate in a new Quality Improvement System. Accreditation will also be seen as evidence of good practice to other funders and potential donors.
But the bothy had to fight the clock when the relevant governing body – the Museum Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) - was chopped in the latest bonfire of the quangos, announced by the Westminster government last week. And the bothy made it in the nick of time, when they were granted accreditation by the very last meeting of the Museum Libraries and Archives Council. If the bothy application had not been considered at this meeting, it would have meant having to re-write their application to a new set of standards.
Mr Broomfield explained: “If we had missed that final meeting, the rules would have changed, and it would have been much more complicated.“We are very pleased to have beaten that very important deadline. We only heard half way through the process that the MLA was going – it certainly sharpened our minds wonderfully.” The rush meant a very intense nine months work to draw together the complex application paperwork needed. The museum is housed in the three former brick-vaulted ice chambers of the 175 year old building.
Specially designed lighting adds to the atmosphere of the rooms, which still are as cool and dark as they were in the days they were used to store ice.
The museum tells the story of the growth of the town on illustrated information panels, and by models, old tools and even a small sailing boat. The outer chamber describes the growth of the town and the harbours. The middle chamber describes the other industries and trade of the town, including Portsoy marble, the foundry, ropeworks, and smuggling.
The innermost chamber is devoted to the salmon netting industry which was carried out from the bothy, and has two cases with superb scale models showing salmon nets rigged up.
The museum also has a small shop area, selling souvenirs of the bothy and the boat festival.
The museum is open this week from Wednesday until Friday from 2-4pm, and 11.30am-4pm on Saturday and Sunday. From next week, the museum goes into its winter timetable, when it is closed on weekdays, and open from 2-4pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Our newest volunteer: Fearghal Wilson Watt.
Fearghal was only three weeks old when mum Leanne took him down to th e
bothy for the first time to meet the volunteers. He was guest of honour at the September volunteers' meeting, which also included a baby shower for him.
Any regrets that we had lost Leanne (temporarily) as manager at the bothy while she takes her maternity leave, were instantly forgotten as
soon as Fearghal appeared, accompanied by mum and dad, Matthew.
Fearghal behaved impeccably through the business meeting and all the coo-cooing which followed - although Leanne predicted that he was just resting ahead of a busy night!
Everyone wishes the family a wonderful time together, and hope to see them at the bothy as often as possible, and of course, look forward to
Leanne's return to the manager's office.
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