Heritage Festival builds on last year’s success!
The rural villages that were at the forefront of Scotland’s first oil rush are being celebrated again during the 2017 WAT IF? Heritage Festival running from Sunday 11th June to Saturday 17th June which includes a week-long Heritage Exhibition, guided walks, farm tours and a Festival Fun Day!
Tarbrax, Woolfords and Auchengray all played their own important parts in the shale-oil boom which took place across West Lothian and in this part of Lanarkshire for the 60 years between 1866 and 1926, when Tarbrax Oil Works finally closed for good. The Festival will celebrate the rich and diverse history of the villages and communities and the Exhibition focuses on the lives of ordinary villagers, how they lived, where they worked and the social lives that kept them going through good and hard times. It will also look at the changes that have come about in the last 100 years, and how the communities are looking positively to the future!
WAT IF? ran the first Heritage Festival in September 2016 and it was a great success with over 200 visits to the Exhibition over the week, with many visitors travelling from outwith the area to share their memories and stories of the villages. For 2017 the programme has grown with more guided walks, talks and a bigger Festival Fun Day to finish off the week. The Trust is looking forward to welcoming local historian Harry Knox and Robin Chesters, director of Almond Valley Heritage Centre to speak about the history of the area, while Dr Barbra Harvie from SRUC (Scotland’s Rural Colleges) will be getting locals out onto the Bing to explore the history of shale, and the ecological future of the habitat left from the industry.
To end the week, on Saturday 17th June the Festival Fun Day will provide fun and games for all ages with the highlight being the Bing Races – visitor Haydn Ford won the Big Bing Race last year with a time of 7 minutes 47 seconds, who will take the trophy this year? Tarbrax Common will play host to games while the exhibition will be open in Tarbrax Village Hall, with live music in the hall from 7pm on Saturday night. Full details of the festival programme and fun day are available at www.watif.scot/heritagefestival2017.
WAT IF? are continuing to collect stories, photos and artefacts from around the area to build the exhibition, if you are interested in contributing to, or helping to develop the heritage collection please get in touch with Jemma at jemma@watif.scot or 01501 785194.
(May 2017)
The rural villages that were at the forefront of Scotland’s first oil rush are being celebrated again during the 2017 WAT IF? Heritage Festival running from Sunday 11th June to Saturday 17th June which includes a week-long Heritage Exhibition, guided walks, farm tours and a Festival Fun Day!
Tarbrax, Woolfords and Auchengray all played their own important parts in the shale-oil boom which took place across West Lothian and in this part of Lanarkshire for the 60 years between 1866 and 1926, when Tarbrax Oil Works finally closed for good. The Festival will celebrate the rich and diverse history of the villages and communities and the Exhibition focuses on the lives of ordinary villagers, how they lived, where they worked and the social lives that kept them going through good and hard times. It will also look at the changes that have come about in the last 100 years, and how the communities are looking positively to the future!
WAT IF? ran the first Heritage Festival in September 2016 and it was a great success with over 200 visits to the Exhibition over the week, with many visitors travelling from outwith the area to share their memories and stories of the villages. For 2017 the programme has grown with more guided walks, talks and a bigger Festival Fun Day to finish off the week. The Trust is looking forward to welcoming local historian Harry Knox and Robin Chesters, director of Almond Valley Heritage Centre to speak about the history of the area, while Dr Barbra Harvie from SRUC (Scotland’s Rural Colleges) will be getting locals out onto the Bing to explore the history of shale, and the ecological future of the habitat left from the industry.
To end the week, on Saturday 17th June the Festival Fun Day will provide fun and games for all ages with the highlight being the Bing Races – visitor Haydn Ford won the Big Bing Race last year with a time of 7 minutes 47 seconds, who will take the trophy this year? Tarbrax Common will play host to games while the exhibition will be open in Tarbrax Village Hall, with live music in the hall from 7pm on Saturday night. Full details of the festival programme and fun day are available at www.watif.scot/heritagefestival2017.
WAT IF? are continuing to collect stories, photos and artefacts from around the area to build the exhibition, if you are interested in contributing to, or helping to develop the heritage collection please get in touch with Jemma at jemma@watif.scot or 01501 785194.
(May 2017)