The Saltire Festival
The Saltire Festival 2021
The Saltire Festival returns for 2021!
We will be bringing you some great events to celebrate the very best of Scotland and St. Andrew's Day in the Home of the Flag from Wednesday 24th November - Tuesday 30th November, 2021.
Here are just some of the events taking place. Watch this space or follow our Facebook page for updates.
Scotland on Film - Film Screening of Local Hero (PG)
Date: Wednesday 24th November, 2021
Venue: The Brunton, Musselburgh, 7.30pm
Bill Forsyth's heartwarming comedy deals with materialistic American corporate execute Mac (Peter Riegert), who travels to the small Scottish town of Ferness to negotiate buying land to allow the construction of an oil refinery. Mac's best efforts are trumped by a local beachcomber (Fulton Mackay) who refuses to budge. Local Hero ingeniously examines how a small Scottish community is bound together by its shared experience in one of the funniest culture-clash comedies in cinema history.
Tickets: £8 (£7)
Prestonpans Battlefield by Night Walking Tour
Date: Thursday 25th November, 2021
Venue: Meet at Meadowmill Sports Centre Car Park, Prestonpans (EH33 1LZ) at 7.30pm
Join battlefield historian, Dr Arran Johnston, for an atmospheric evening exploration of Prestonpans Battlefield, uncovering the forgotten story of the events which took place the night before the main battle. This walking tour visits many of the location's main landmarks, including Tranent churchyard, the Memorial Tables and the Gardiner Monument.
Please wear suitable footwear and clothing; torches recommended.
Tour is free, lasts approx 2hrs 30 and returns to the starting point. Spaces are limited so booking is recommended.
Kris Drever 2021
Date: Friday 26th November, 2021
Venue: The Brunton, Musselburgh, 7.30pm
Kris Drever is a Scottish folk singer songwriter. He has won multiple awards including an incredible 7 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, two shortlist nominations for Scottish Album of the Year (with his trio Lau) and much acclaim for his solo recordings and concerts including glowing reviews from The Herald, The Guardian, Mojo and Q Magazine.
His recent single "Scapa Flow 1919" was nominated for Best Original Track by BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards whilst his (John Parish produced) album with Lau, "Midnight and Closedown" was released in 2019 by Reveal Records to wild acclaim including being chosen in The Best Albums of The Year Feature by The Guardian.
Drever's voice and guitar form a part of the backbone of today's contemporary roots and folk scene.
Tickets: £17 (£15)
Haddington Farmers' Market
Date: Saturday 27th November, 2021
Venue: Court Street, Haddington, 9am-1pm
| Enjoy the friendly atmosphere of Haddington Farmers Market. A stress-free shopping experience supporting local & Scottish producers with a fantastic range of home-produced specialities on offer. In the run up to St. Andrew's Day, why not pick up some ingredients to cook your very own dishes at home. |
Keith Jack & The MacDonald Bros: Scottish Greats
Date: Saturday 27th November, 2021
Venue: The Brunton, Musselburgh, 7.30pm
Join Keith Jack, the MacDonald Brothers, Brian and Craig for an awesome night celebrating all things Scotland! Bringing you songs from Wet Wet Wet, The Proclaimers, Lulu, Lewis Capaldi, Dougie Maclean and much more!
A night not to be missed!
Tickets: £25 (£22)
'Wherever a Scotsman goes...' John Muir and Robert Burns Exhibition
Venue: The Brunton, Musselburgh
This 'free' exhibition will be available to view throughout the month of November in the foyer of The Brunton in Musselburgh.
Whether 'sauntering' in the Sierra foothills, exploring the Alaskan glaciers, rediscovering Scotland or travelling the World, Muir always had Burns with him. As he said himself, he 'had him by heart... and his poems fitted everybody'.
On my first long walk, I carried a copy of Burn’s poems and sang them all the way. All the country and the people, beasts and birds, seemed to like them.’
Pioneer of conservation, botanist, explorer, mountaineer, inventor, farmer, family man, writer… and like many emigrant Scots, a Burns man. Muir’s knowledge and love of Burns appears throughout his letters and writing. The poems and songs of our national poet were part of the good ‘Scotch’ education that Muir was given in Dunbar until the family emigrated when he was just 10 years old. Muir would have heard Burns quoted by his grandfather and others through his early life.
The best documented occasion of Muir sharing Burns with close friends was in 1909. While spending a few days in Yosemite Valley with naturalist John Burroughs, editor Francis Fisher Browne and two young ladies. Muir and Browne began reciting and singing Burns well into the night. The thin partition walls of their rooms meant that their companions were not amused!
On the 25th January 1906, Muir, widowed only a few months before, wrote an essay entitled ‘Thoughts Written on the Birthday of Robert Burns’. In it, he appreciated both the poet’s love of all God’s creatures and his use of ‘gude braid Scots’ language. The essay was read a year later at a supper held in honour of Burns in Pasedena, Southern California.
