Well, Sunday was the Final Bash of the Perthshire Amber Festival after ten days of musical fun, workshops, charity events and other assorted Scottish-ness organised by musician, Dougie MacLean’s management team – if you are keen on Scottish music, I recommend a listen! The Festival was absolutely buzzing, with all activities going off left, right and centre and the Management team and theatre staff were constantly busy, but made time to help me set up for my genealogy workshop “Genealogy Stepping Stones” in Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s River Room.
I demonstrated how to trace your ancestry using the Scottish records, just as Dougie did, and included some “live research” using internet resources, which was really exciting. Dougie had given me details of family “tales” which he was able to prove using the Scottish records, and we followed the research steps he had taken to find his Great Great Granny’s one-roomed cottage on Mull where he was pictured amongst the ruined walls.
My audience enjoyed the presentation – it’s so encouraging when your listeners are nodding and smiling – and we had a lively Q & A session at the end, which is the part I enjoy the most. I met up with some of the guests later for “genealogy chat”, advice and story-sharing.
Dougie was running about in between Rehearsals and greeting bands who were arriving, so apart from a few brief chats, this is the closest I managed to get!
He had his knitting sticking out of his jacket pocket – his Mum has been gathering squares of knitting donated from all over the world and has sewn them into a blanket which will be auctioned off by The Big Knit for the Scottish homeless charity, Shelter. Last year’s blanket raised £2000, so let’s hope this year’s does even better – I’ll let you know when I hear what this year’s blanket went for!
If you’re coming to Scotland next year at the end of October or beginning of November, the Perthshire Amber Festival should be on your list!
own documents and photos to demonstrate how he traced his ancestry. If you will be in the Pitlochry area at the beginning of November, the festival runs for ten days starting Friday 29th October and has a multitude of Scottish offerings – music, walks, music, talks, music, workshops, music and don’t forget the 
