BLAS Festival Show "CURAIDHEAN NA CAMANACHD - Shinty's Heroes” | |
10 September 2013 A new BLAS Festival 2013 show entitled ‘Shinty’s Heroes’ takes place at the Nevis Centre, Fort William at 7.30pm on Friday 13 September 2013 and is set to provide the perfect prelude to the 2013 Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Final between Kyles Athletic and Newtonmore. The special history, set to music and photography, will bring together for the first time the story of the sacrifice and toll endured by Scotland’s Shinty playing communities during the Great War. As Britain gets ready to mark the Centenary of the outbreak of World War 1, the event will narrate the untold story of the impact highland shinty players had on the most destructive conflict ever fought, and vice versa. The event has been brought together by historian and broadcaster Hugh Dan MacLennan, with Fort William and Scotland star Gary Innes as Musical Director and it will be the first proper telling of shinty’s war stories. Skye Camanachd, Kyles Athletic and Beauly were amongst the hardest hit shinty clubs with many of their players killed in the conflict. Another casualty was Newtonmore’s legendary Dr John Cattanach, who was regarded as the best player of the time. Dr Cattanach played for Newtonmore Camanachd and during the war served as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He remains the only shinty player to have been inducted into Scottish Sport's Hall of Fame and he died of wounds suffered at Gallipoli in July 1915. He was aged just 30 years. The show will also highlight the stories of the “Kingussie's Missing Five” - five players who never received their commemorative Camanachd Cup winning caps from 1914 because they were killed in battle in France. The Lovat Scouts, a British Army sniper unit, will also feature. Shinty players among the snipers brought their camans with them to the front line. Show director Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan said, "The impact shinty players had in the Great War and vice versa is a fascinating tale that deserves to be told. Not a lot of this stuff is known. Many shinty playing communities lost generations of men." Musician Fergie MacDonald will also be amongst the performers on the night. Camanachd Association President Archie Robertson said, “The Camanachd Association is delighted to again partner with the BLAS Festival. It is a great event which celebrates many aspects of Highland culture and it seems very appropriate that the Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Final should be part of it. The content and array of performers included in Hugh Dan and Gary’s show, ‘Shinty’s Heroes’, leaves me in no doubt that it will be an excellent evening and a perfect start to the cup final weekend as those who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War are remembered in this way.” Additionally, if you attend the BLAS Festival Show "CURAIDHEAN NA CAMANACHD - Shinty's Heroes" you will receive a 20% discount on your Camanachd Cup Final ticket. |