All aboard for festival fun
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PORTSOY’S Scottish Traditional Boat Festival was graced by glorious sunshine on Saturday and Sunday, making it an extra-special occasion for an estimated 16,000 visitors.
The 18th annual event, now sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, lived up to its reputation as the top event of its kind in Scotland – and once again was a tremendous credit to its army of volunteers and the community of Portsoy.
The town also discovered on Saturday that it has a famous "son".
Officially opening the festival, Sir Tom Farmer, founder of Kwik Fit, one of the world’s largest automotive service companies, revealed to his audience that he had been conceived in the town.
"I am from Leith. However, my brothers and sisters were evacuees here during the Second World War, and I was born after one of my father’s visits here to see the family," he smiled.
"So I am a true son of Portsoy, and it could not be more appropriate than for me to be here today."
With numerous activities, craft stalls, food outlets and entertainment already under way around the 17th century commercial harbour and the nearby Loch Soy, Sir Tom was accompanied on stage by Claire Russell, Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire, who went on to officially unveil the signage on the new PORT building.
PORT (the Portsoy Organisation for Restoration and Training) has been created as the next stage of the festival’s Portsoy Faering Project, to provide a unique capability for training young people to build small boats.
Roger Goodyear, chairman of the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, said: "PORT will ensure that the traditional craft of boat-building is kept alive by training young people in the techniques and skills required to create and restore boats."
The Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival was supported by EventScotland as part of the year of Active Scotland, and saw a sports village by Loch Soy featuring the likes of football, touch rugby, cycling and sailing.
Banff’s Spotty Bag Shop ran a free bus service, with stops in communities from Buckie to Banff.
Read the full story in the Banffshire Journal.
