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Press
Drovers Tryst 'Press releases'
September 2009
Drovers’ Tryst Programme ‘09 Launched
The eighth annual Crieff and Strathearn Drover’s Tryst Walking Festival programme is now available online at www.droverstryst.co.uk plus a printed brochure has just been launched.
The Crieff and Strathearn Drovers' Tryst which takes place from 10-17 October, 2009, celebrates the cattle drovers who made Crieff the centre of Scotland between 1700-1800, when the Crieff Cattle Tryst was the largest cattle market in the land.
Today’s wide-ranging programme naturally focuses on walking, with a variety of excursions led by local experts. Each walk has been categorised: easy, medium, hard and extra hard – from gentle strolls to full day high level excursions. The walks have a variety of themes ranging from topics as diverse as Romans or red deer – plus participants will also be able to increase their knowledge and understanding about drovers and the old drove roads.
But the events programme isn’t all about walking (and it isn’t even totally about the outdoors!). Dry Stane Dyking; getting creative on a Walking and Writing Workshop; improving survival skills with Bush Craft; a friendly competition on the local golf courses; taking the plunge with Canyoning; Rock Climbing or get your first catch with Fly Fishing: these are just a selection of activities available during the week.
Then there’s the third year of The Hairy Coo Grass Roots Mountain Bike Race, with a Bairns Race, and the Wee Race, both part of the build up to The Big Race, along sections of the old and scenic drove roads, starting from Comrie Croft on the final Saturday. Plus, there’s a ceilidh to follow.
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The Photography exhibition from last years’ competition hosted by Café Central will run throughout the week. There’s a cinema night, local art exhibitions, and a poetry and storytelling evening with various local authors. Add on whisky tasting at the Famous Grouse Experience, a quiz night, Burns talk, live music and talk from Faucheldean Wind Trio – plus the final evening Comrie Croft Barn Dance – and it all adds up to an unmissable programme in and around Crieff.
For information and bookings visit www.droverstryst.co.uk or call 01764 652578
END
Press Contact
Katy Galbraith, Event Co-ordinator,
Drovers' Tryst www.droverstryst.co.uk
Tel: 01764 655721
Email: katy@galvelmore.co.uk
Notes to Editors
The cattle were bought to Crieff by drovers, who travelled hundreds of miles from as far as The Isle of Skye. This often took weeks of walking through the remote mountains and glens of Scotland over rough and barren terrain. At that time, Crieff was one of Scotland’s most important financial centres.
In the Scots language, a ‘tryst’ (pronounced with a vowel that rhymes with ‘rye’) is an arranged meeting place and is a word that is also linked to standard English ‘trust’. Crieff was the place where dealers ‘trysted’ to meet the cattle owners in order to transact business.
August 2009
Hairy Coo takes Prominent Position at Comrie Croft
The new Hairy Coo sign was unveiled this weekend by the trail building team of volunteers. Positioned by the start of the trail at Comrie Croft, the sign will hope to bring a smile to the faces of cyclists as they head up into the hills.
New sections of the route were created over the weekend in anticipation of the annual Hairy Coo Grassroots Mountain Bike Race, which takes place on Saturday 17th October as part of the Drovers’ Tryst festival. This year, there will be a change of format with three different lengths of race suiting different abilities: the Bairns Race; the Wee Race and the Big Race.
The mosaic sign was created by Katy Galbraith, owner of Galvelmore House B&B in Crieff and coordinator of the Drovers’ Tryst. The sign uses predominately recycled materials including beer bottles, crockery and mirror. The slate base is a broken pool table. Katy is starting to sell her work locally and has recently exhibited in the Opus Mosaic Gallery in Exeter.
The supporting drystane surround was created by her husband, David, who is also working outside of the B&B hospitality industry by undertaking drystane projects in the local area.
For more information about the Hairy Coo Grassroots Mountain Bike Race please visit www.droverstryst.co.uk or call 01764 652578
Ends
Press Contact
Katy Galbraith, Event Co-ordinator,
Drovers' Tryst www.droverstryst.co.uk
Tel: 01764 655721
Email: katy@galvelmore.co.uk
March 2009
All Roads lead to the Crieff and Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst 2009
Now in its eighth year, Crieff and Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst from 10-17 October, 2009 is bringing back some of the excitement of the annual autumn market that used to give this little Highland-edge town an air of the Wild West! On offer is a wide-ranging programme of events that celebrates the life of the cattle drovers, who gained and lost fortunes at the tryst in Crieff.
The sale of cattle here once made Crieff the greatest centre of money circulation in Scotland. And it became a big financial player in the 18th-century Scottish economy because of its location. All roads led to Crieff – and that’s still true today. The organisers of today’s Crieff and Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst have put together a programme of events that is accessible in every sense: the area is easy to reach and there is a wide choice of things to do.
Some of the activities bring the past alive by featuring walking tours along the old drove roads through the hills. Then there are walks for the super-fit on the high tops and other gentler themed walks in the company of a local story-teller, photographic walks (and workshops) and walks to other ancient historical sites.
Today’s Tryst gives all kinds of opportunities for trying something new: dry stane dyking, creative writing, survival skills and bushcraft are all in the programme by way of workshops and demonstrations. Or you could try river canyoning, rock climbing or (less energetically) fly fishing.
One special event of note is the ‘Hairy Coo Challenge’, a mountain bike fun and race-based event taking in a section of scenic drove roads, with categories for all comers from the youthful to the veteran. Then celebrate that evening with the Comrie Croft Barn Dance.
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You can relax and enjoy whisky tasting, a cinema night, and a poetry and story-telling evening. There is a quiz evening, a talk on Robert Burns and a wind trio concert. Or you can get active with the golf tournament or the evening deer-spotting walk.
All of these options are just a taster for the full programme. And it all happens in a beautiful part of Perthshire, where Highland meets Lowland. For more information visit www.droverstryst.co.uk and view the Drovers’ Tryst slideshow or the Hairy Coo Mountain Bike Race slideshow on YouTube
www.youtube.com/
ENDS
Press Contact
Katy Galbraith, Event Co-ordinator,
Drovers' Tryst www.droverstryst.co.uk
Tel: 01764 655721
Email: katy@galvelmore.co.uk
Note for Editors
In the Scots language, a ‘tryst’ (pronounced with a vowel that rhymes with ‘rye’) is an arranged meeting place and is a word that is also linked to standard English ‘trust’. Crieff was the place where dealers ‘trysted’ to meet the cattle owners in order to transact business.
January 2009
Homecoming Scotland 2009 features the Drovers’ Tryst
This year, the Crieff & Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst festival will feature a greater focus on the history & heritage of Strathearn, as it is officially part of the Homecoming Scotland programme. The Tryst take places this year from 10–17 October.
As the festival continues to grow, the Management Committee have had to restructure to spread the workload in organising such a complex event and avoid ‘volunteer fatigue’. Separate working groups have been established for walks, events, other outdoor activities, the Hairy Coo, marketing & publicity, etc.
And planning is already underway, with the walks group looking to retain and recruit more walk leaders, and to develop new routes including those which have ‘themes’ to them (such as local history, flora & fauna etc). The challenge is to create a programme for October, which encompasses popular local walks, traditional drovers’ routes and some fresh new ideas too.
The Hairy Coo Mountain Bike Challenge will be back again this year too. Feedback on the 2008 event was very positive, in spite of the course being very difficult due to the rain. However, the Hairy Coo team is looking at ways to develop the race and offer new categories such as an ‘endurance race’ and a ‘family friendly race’ to expand the appeal of the event.
The Tryst evening events programme is still in its infancy, yet many of the 2008 organisers are keen to come on board again – so ceilidhs, quiz night and the Comrie Cinema night are all set to happen again in 2009. However, there is still capacity for more events, and the Tryst Committee is keen to hear from any individual or group wishing to get involved, ideally on a collaborative basis, by offering or organising an evening event that is related to the Homecoming themes (eg, ancestry, heritage of the area, Scottish music, dance, arts or crafts).
The Crieff & Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst will be represented at the NEC Outdoors Show in March, so now is the time for the hard work of planning to happen. Coordinator, Katy Galbraith said, ‘it is great to see that there is such enthusiasm for the event. We have a new management team, who seem to be working well together, and with fresh input, the programme takes on a new life. Looking to the numbers of people coming to the area, it is encouraging that we have a very loyal customer base that keep coming back for more, so we are obviously doing something right! I also feel that we have attained a good balance between attracting visitors to the area – which is good for the local economy – and it also being still a community event. I would love for it to be in a position one day that Comrie Fortnight has, where everyone has a way of taking part, be it socially, for kids, in the organisation, etc, so that the whole Crieff & Strathearn area feels a part of it.’
Ends
16th January 2009
Issued on behalf of the Crieff & Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst. For further information, please contact Katy Galbraith, 01764 655721,
katy@galvelmore.co.uk
Notes for Editors:
The Crieff & Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst takes place between 10th & 17th October
It has four main categories: Walks, Other Outdoor Activities including the Hairy Coo Mountain Bike Challenge, Workshops
The Crieff and Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst is a contemporary revival of the annual Michaelmas Fair which had made Crieff the crossroads of Scotland in the 1700s. In those days, up to 30,000 head of cattle would converge on the town from all over the Highlands and Islands to be sold at market. Once their beasts were sold, the drovers were free to make the most of the hospitality and entertainment on offer in and around the town.
For more information please visit www.droverstryst.co.uk
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