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Dumfries Winter Gaitherin

Dumfries Winter Gaitherin

In December 2021 The Stove Network hosted an alternative to Dumfries’s traditional Christmas Lights Switch On, re-imagined in response to the impacts of the covid19 pandemic by creating a more gentle celebration to welcome the festive season into the town centre.

The Dumfries Winter Gaitherin ran across the afternoon and early evening and featured an outdoor stage with local performances including Scots storytelling, live music and performance. Across several partner venues were hosted free children’s creative workshops and activities, and local cafes and businesses were invited to open late to cater for visitors and provide an opportunity to visit local businesses whilst out and about.

Artist Commission

As part of the Dumfries Winter Gaitherin, The Stove commissioned musician and composer Chris Gray to create a new piece of music for the event, that was performed live at the event. Chris Gray, originally from Lockerbie and now based in Glasgow, is a piper, pianist, whistle player, composer and music teacher. Here his specially composed piece, The Winter Gaitherin Waltz can be heard on the short film created by Ruari Barber Fleming below.

Partners and Community Organisations

After a call out to local businesses and groups, our programme expanded to include Big Burns Supper and The Dumfries Community Choir, Flourish, The Wobbly Shelf, Kings Coffee and Kings Own Blend, D-Lux Festival of Light, Summerhill Youth Group, Reids Amusements, Arts End of Somewhere and Moat Brae. Special thanks to everyone who helped make the Dumfries Winter Gaitherin a success!

The Dumfries Winter Gaitherin was supported by Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Short Film

We worked with filmmaker Ruari Barber Fleming to create a short film capturing the evening, sharing snippets of many of the activities and performances that took place. Have a watch below:

You can also read more about the Winter Gaitherin event over on our the news section of our website:

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