Festival Finale in Clydebank Town Hall
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The final event of this year's "Booked!" Literature Festival was a Burns night at Clydebank Town Hall on 29th May. There was a large turnout to see and hear the Dr Fred Freeman group of professional musicians performing a variety of Burns songs and traditional airs. The performers were John Morran & Wendy Weatherby with Marc Duff and Sandy Brechin. This was a highly-skilled performance, with professional sound system engineers, and much effort had been put into the arrangements to make this a memorable conclusion to the festival.
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Interspersed with the songs were Dr Freeman's learned remarks regarding various aspects of traditional song, including the way in which the demands of melody and rhythm have to take precedence over lyrics - something that Robert Burns himself insisted on.
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There was an interval during which a buffet supper was spread out, and there was an opportunity to buy CDs of Burns music and compilations of Scottish folksong. There was also a prize draw for all those who had contributed evaluation forms throughout the festival. The prize was a hamper with an item from each event. The lucky winner was Muriel Birchall. Life-long Learning manager Ken Graham also took the opportunity to thank all those who had helped to make the festival so successful, not least of all Ian Baillie (principal organiser), Allan Gordon, Anne-Louise Anglim and Joe Porter (ubiquitous photographer).
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Some people were disappointed that the evening ended so abruptly without the opportunity for more socialising, but there could be no doubt that those who attended had been greatly entertained, and had indeed learned a great deal about the Scottish folk tradition. In this "Year of Homecoming" that was very appropriate.