April 2009 Newsletter 1
Highland Games and Scottish Festival programme of events now online
We have now created a page on The Gathering 2009 website where you will find the programme of events happening within Holyrood Park. We will confirm the timings of each event and further details in due course so keep checking the website, but in the meantime, we hope this one-page guide will help you plan your weekend. Click here to go to the programme.
Pulling together to save lives
The Gathering 2009 and Premier Inn Hotels are pulling together to raise awareness and much needed funds for the life-saving leukaemia charity, The Anthony Nolan Trust.
Premier Inns are sponsoring The Big Pull, a tug o' war competition which will take place within Holyrood Park on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July. All proceeds from the event will go directly to the charity which works to provide bone marrow donors for leukaemia sufferers.
Teams from across the world are being invited to sign-up to the competition and the money will be used to expand the Charity's bone marrow register in Scotland, helping people like nine-year old Danny Smith who was diagnosed with leukaemia at an early age but was able to find a donor thanks to The Anthony Nolan Trust.
The event is open to people of all ages and there will be different categories including a male, female and mixed competition. For information on how to enter and to read the full story about Danny and The Anthony Nolan Trust, click here.
Lord Sempill from The Gathering 2009 pulling together with staff from Premier Inn Hotels to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust, with Ben Todd, Danny Smith and Maggie Parry who have all had leukaemia.
Citylinking with The Gathering 2009 – bringing Scotland together for less
The Gathering 2009 has teamed up with Scottish Citylink Coaches to offer all our passport and ticket holders cut-price travel to and from Edinburgh in July.
Citylink is offering a 30% discount on return travel to Edinburgh from anywhere within Scotland between Monday 20 and Friday 31 July inclusive. With express coach services to more than 200 towns and cities across the country and more than 400 services every day, Citylink is considered Scotland’s leading coach company.
So why not leave the car at home and take advantage of this hassle-free travel offer. What’s more, by using the coach, you’ll be doing your bit for the environment by helping to reduce congestion and pollution on the roads.
To book your tickets, simply log on to the Citylink website at www.citylink.co.uk, enter your travel information, number of standard passengers and promotional code in the Journey Planner and receive the discounted fares. Alternatively, you can call Citylink’s contact centre on 08705 50 50 50 and simply quote the promotional code to the advisor.
The promotional code will be sent out to all customers who purchase a ticket to The Gathering 2009. If you have already purchased your passport or ticket, please send an email entitled Citylink, with your name and booking reference or order number to info@thegathering2009.com, and we shall email the promotional discount code to you.
Holders of valid Scottish National Entitlement Cards can travel free on all Citylink services.
Children under the age of five are entitled to free travel when accompanied by an adult fare-paying passenger. Discounts are available for additional under-fives, and all children aged five to 15.
Citylink also have a Family Day Ticket which is available from all points on their network within Scotland, allowing children up to and including the age of 15 to travel free every weekend, all year round.
For full details of The Gathering 2009 discount, terms and conditions, please click here.
Tartan Day
Participants in The Gathering 2009 have been spreading the word about the event as part of the Tartan Day celebrations in New York and Toronto.
Harrison Bailey III who is competing at The Gathering 2009 met Scotland’s Culture Minister Mike Russell MSP in New York City’s Central Park.
Bringing Scottish music to the streets of Toronto. Josh Kenny (left) and Greg Hadley (right) help Scottish musician Roddy Hart carry a tune as part of Tartan Day and Homecoming Scotland celebrations. Both Greg and Roddy will be taking part in The Gathering 2009.
Clan Parade
Lord Sempill has been out filming on the Royal Mile with his friend Elizabeth Fairbairn to show the challenges of the Clan Parade route. You can watch their report which involves the odd anecdote along the way on Panalba.
There’s still time to put poetry in motion
We are delighted to have received entries to The Gathering 2009 poetry competition from all over the world, but we would love to read more of your work. In partnership with the Scotsman and the Scottish Poetry Library, we are looking for poems that express the essence of coming together.
Judges for the competition include best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith and Edinburgh Makar Ron Butlin. Winning poems will be published in The Scotsman in June and winners will receive a volume of Scots poems from The Scottish Poetry Library and a Gathering 2009 Commemorative Award. The winners and runners-up will also receive two tickets to The Gathering 2009 on either 25 or 26 July.
The subject of the poem is The Gathering, which can interpret the subject in any way imaginable, and we are looking for entries from children, young people and adults.
Click here to read the full details of the competition.
We have a winner!
Congratulations to Frank Davidson from New South Wales in Australia who is the lucky winner of The Gathering 2009 and Homecoming Scotland 2009 competition to win a pair of Gold Passports, accommodation and travel. We look forward to seeing you in July, Frank.
HAPPY EASTER FROM THE GATHERING 2009 TEAM!
