Category: Educational and Talks

Sir Ian McKellen discusses his extraordinary career.

During the summer of 1976 theatergoers who had the good fortune to be in Stratford-upon-Avon were treated to riveting performances by a young actor who co-starred in two of Shakespeare’s most legendary works.

That season established Ian McKellen as one of our era’s most charismatic actors. It was altogether fitting, then, that in May of 1996 he was selected as the inaugural recipient of a newly-created Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts.

In the mid-1990s Sir Richard Eyre directed McKellen in a Richard III that thrilled audiences on three continents. A short time later Sir Ian had gone on to co-produce, and star in, a cinematic adaptation of the same classic. That brilliant film paved the way for his leading roles in a memorable series of other motion pictures, among them All is True, Beauty and the Beast, Cats, The Da Vinci Code, Gods and Monsters, The Good Liar, Mr. Holmes, King Lear, The Lord of the Rings, and The X-Men.

Sir Ian’s distinguished television work stretches from Rasputin to Coronation Street, from Extras with Ricky Gervais to Vicious with Sir Derek Jacobi. And on the first-ever Film On Four, he co-starred with Barbara Jefford and Jim Broadbent in Stephen Frears’ Walter, and in the title role of Ronald Harwood’s The Dresser, with Anthony Hopkins depicting Sir.

Sir Ian has also delighted audiences in Acting Shakespeare and McKellen on Stage, his celebrated one-man shows, as well as in a double bill with Sir Patrick Stewart that revived two 20th-century-masterpieces, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land.

Not surprisingly, Sir Ian’s work has garnered dozens of accolades, among them a Tony Award for his role as Salieri in the Broadway presentation of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, four Olivier Awards for his many performances in London’s West End (among them starring roles in Bent and Wild Honey), a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Gandalf the Grey in The Fellowship of the Rings, and a Golden Globe Award for his depiction of Nicholas II in Rasputin.

In addition to his knighthood (KBE), awarded in 1999, Sir Ian has also been appointed a Companion of Honor (CH) by Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his many services to drama and to equity.

Please join us for a wide-ranging dialogue, hosted by John F. Andrews, with a man who is globally renowned not only for his many accomplishments as a theatre artist, but for all he’s contributed to making our world a better place.

Please help the NAC support artists. By making a donation with your registration, you contribute directly to the NAC Artist Fellows program, helping to further the careers of up-and-coming artists.

This program will be hosted via Zoom. You will receive additional details upon registration.

The inspiration for Big Bang Week, comes from the pristine skies of Galloway’s Dark Sky Park on the doorstep of Scotland’s Book Town. Freelance ranger Elizabeth Tindal explains.  The big bang was the start of the universe as we know it. It came from a single point and expanded outwards. Big Bang Week 2021 (3-6 March) is similarly expansive, starting at Wigtown and spreading outwards, via the internet, to interested parties across the planet. 

We are blessed that Wigtown is situated amid world class natural and cultural heritage. The UNESCO designated Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere surrounds us, and we are especially lucky that our Biosphere has a very special place at its heart, the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park.

The Galloway Dark Sky Park was designated by the International Dark-Sky Association in 2009. It was the first Dark Sky Park in Britain and also Europe and the fourth on Earth, which makes it pretty special. It is a gold tier Dark Sky Park meaning that Wigtown is right beside one of the darkest places on Earth and boasts some pretty dark skies itself. From there you can see across our universe – just the right place to host a space themed week.

Streaming live on the Wigtown Festival website.  Tickets Free but must be booked. 

Can you imagine a different Scotland, a Scotland where women are commemorated in statues and streets and buildings – even in the hills and valleys?

Join Where Are The Women? author Sara Sheridan as she talks about her guidebook to that alternative nation, where the cave on Staffa is named after Malvina rather than Fingal, and Arthur’s Seat isn’t Arthur’s, it belongs to St Triduana. Where you arrive into Dundee at Slessor Station and the Victorian monument on Stirling’s Abbey Hill interprets national identity not as a male warrior but through the women who ran hospitals during the First World War. The West Highland Way ends at Fort Mary. The Old Lady of Hoy is a prominent Orkney landmark. And the plinths in central Glasgow proudly display statues of the suffragettes who fought until they won.

These imagined streets, buildings, statues and monuments are dedicated to real women, telling their often untold or unknown stories.

‘Where are the Women? provides a tantalising glimpse of an alternative universe where the female contribution is prized.’ The Herald

The livestream event will be available on Facebook and YouTube.

THIS IS A LIVE STREAMED ACOUSTIC EVENT

An evening celebrating the songs of the Skids and Big Country

Join Richard Jobson with Bruce and Jamie Watson as they take you on a musical journey celebrating some classic SKIDS songs. As well as the classics,the intrepid trio will also be delving into tracks from the 4th studio album “JOY”.

If this wasn’t enough, March also sees the 60th birthday of the inimatible Bruce Watson. What better way to acknowledge this milestone and his amazing musical journey , than to let you hear some exclusive acoustic versions of your Big Country favourites.

“In 1977, we were singing songs about what we saw as a world in crisis, today that message is more relevant than ever! The songs have a different power when played acoustically – a new energy – triumph, rage, camaraderie, and a positivity that has always been and will always be the motivation of the bands music and words.” – Richard Jobson

This livestreamed show is being broadcast to you from the very building that the SKIDS rehearsed in back in their formative years.

A range of stream exclusive merchandise will be available to ticketholders.

Your Link to the exclusive merchandise will be displayed on your order confirmation screen, and your confirmation email.

AND FINALLY………

Everyone who buys a ticket will have their name entered into a draw for the chance to record some backing vocals on the next Skids studio album and have their name in the credits.

Using the Toastmasters International programme, we help people develop and improve their public speaking, listening, thinking and leadership skills. We are a friendly bunch, all striving to improve – just like you. We do this in a relaxed and supportive environment where constructive feedback plays an essential role in our progress.

To take the fear out of presenting or speaking at work or in public. To enhance your career potential – to get that job/promotion. To improve your personal communication and leadership skills. Open to anyone aged 18+. Guests are entitled to x3 free visits. Joining fee (one-off) is £15 with x2 semi-annual dues of ~£50 (to pay for TI membership, room hire and tea/coffee etc). We are a non-profit organisation and aim to keep costs as low as possible for all members.

Local historian Bruce Jamieson will give our annual lecture – a new illustrated talk on-line via Zoom on “Disaster at Darien” (The scheme, its failure and the impact on Scotland and Linlithgow).

You will be sent the Zoom joining instructions after registrations closes on 5 March.

Part 2 of the second series of our Beatson Banter series welcomes British retired track and field athlete Steve Cram CBE.

Cram set world records in 1500m, 2000m and the mile during a 19 day period in the summer of 1985 and was the first man to run 1500m under 3 minutes and 30 seconds and was nicknamed “The Jarrow Arrow”.

Alan Kilpatrick board member of Beatson Cancer Charity will host and introduce our guest speaker for the evening and provide the opportunity for you to ask any questions you have via the messaging platform throughout the evening.

As well as the Q&A session there will be the chance to enter our raffle with the winner being announced on the night. In addition there will be the chance to bid on a fantastic auction item on the evening too…highest bid wins!

Places are limited so book now for a fantastic night during lock down while supporting and raising vital funds for those patients and their families who really need your support during these trying times.

On purchase of the ticket you will receive confirmation via Eventbrite (check Junk Mail for this also).

An email will be sent to you on the Thursday from Charlene Low of Beatson Cancer Charity with the Zoom link for taking part in the event.

Please ensure that you are familiar with the Zoom platform in advance of the event. Tickets £10

Featuring special guests Dr Maliha Khan, Marie Claire Kaberamanzi and Zaynab Abdi, to mark the paperback publication of We Are Displaced.

Tickets are free, but you must register to receive the link. There is also an option to purchase a copy of We Are Displaced (RRP £9.99) alongside registering, for either UK or international delivery.

The event will initially be broadcast on 16 March 2021 at 6.30pm UK time. It will be available to view up to a week after the event has ended and can be accessed worldwide.  If you live in a time zone that does not suit the initial broadcast time, you can watch it at any point after the initial showing for one week. If you have any questions please email faneonline@fane.co.uk

In I Am Malala, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and activist Malala Yousafzai told a story of bravery and survival that became a symbol of resistance around the world. Her new book, We Are Displaced, is her powerful and timely follow-up; part memoir, part communal storytelling, this is a work of oral history that serves as an astonishing reminder of the collective power of personal testimony.

Join Malala for this exclusive free event, as she celebrates the paperback publication of her powerful and emotional New York Times bestseller by introducing some of the faces behind the statistics and news stories we read or hear every day about the millions of people displaced worldwide.

Interwoven with her own experiences with displacement and her story of adjusting to a new life while longing for home, Malala will share moving and inspiring true accounts of the refugee experience from some of the incredible girls and women she has encountered who have lost their community, family and often the only world they have ever known. In conversation with two of the women featured in the book – Marie Claire Kaberamanzi and Zaynab Abdi – Malala reflects on their accounts of hope and resilience and reveals the harrowing realities of what it means to be a migrant in today’s world.

In a time of immigration crises, war and border conflicts, this poignant and at times harrowing event is a timely reminder from one of the world’s most prominent young activists that crucially puts a human face to what is all too often reduced to a catalogue of statistics

Astronauts Helen Sharman and Tim Peake join astrophysicist and The Sky At Night presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock and UNOOSA’s Simonetta Di Pippo as they assess how human spaceflight has helped us appreciate our planet. 

From the incredible insights we’ve gained about Earth as we’ve learnt more about neighbouring planets, to the way in which international collaboration and advances in satellites and remote sensing are helping us track the effects of climate change more accurately than ever before.   

Speakers include:  

• Helen Sharman: The first British astronaut and the first woman to visit the Mir space station in 1991.  
• Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE: Astrophysicist, author, and BAFTA-nominated presenter of The Sky at Night.  
• Simonetta Di Pippo: Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and former Director of Human Spaceflight for the European Space Agency.  
• Tim Peake: The most recent Briton in space and first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station, spending six months there from 2015-2016.    
• Dr Kevin Fong (Chair): Doctor, science broadcaster and author.  

Linlithgow Museum is happy to announce our fourth virtual talk:

Heritage of the Union Canal at Redding

We are delighted to welcome Danny Callaghan from the Linlithgow Union Canal Society (LUCS). The talk will be a journey on the Edinburgh to Glasgow Union Canal, focusing on a section of about 2 km starting near Polmont Railway Station and heading west. This small stretch of canal was a hub of industry and education including the Nobel Explosive works. And witnessed the Redding Pit Disaster, the worse pit disaster in Scotland.

Danny is an eighteen and a bit happily retired teenager! He has been a member of Linlithgow Union Canal Society for over 40 years and is currently the Curator of the only canal museum in Scotland. He lives in Reddingmuirhead in Falkirk only about 300 metres from the Union Canal, which is what sprung his interest in his local section of the Union Canal and its rich heritage.

If you would like more information about LUCS and the work they do, please visit their website at www.lucs.org.uk

Booking Information:

Tickets for the talk are £3, and all profits from the event will help keep Linlithgow Museum running in these difficult times.

After booking you will receive a confirmation email and the Zoom link to the talk will be sent out shortly beforehand. We look forward to you joining us.

Please note the event will be recorded and screenshots taken. If you do not wish to be recorded please turn off your camera when joining the talk.

Settle in and be transported to a new world of reimagined Scottish folktales, stories and myths this World Storytelling Day.

From the tale of Beira, the winter goddess who built mountains, to a mixed race and queer reimagining of Thomas the Rhymer, to a multicultural myth of the first fairies to arrive on the banks of the Clyde – we’re excited to share a set of unique stories that will enchant and inspire.

Hosted by award winning Scottish-Kenyan storyteller Mara Menzies (with a tale of her own to tell), we’ll be taking a 21st century look at some of Scotland’s oldest stories with guests:

• Kirsty Logan, LGBT Scottish novelist and poet
• Niall Moorjani, Scottish-Indian storyteller and writer
• Sunnah Khan, Scottish-Pakistani poet

This event will be livestreamed free via the Historic Environment Scotland Facebook page, Historic Scotland Facebook page and our Youtube channel.

The pre-recorded event, filmed in accordance with all Covid-19 regulations and guidance in place at the time of filming, will be available after the livestream via these channels.

Suitable for viewers aged 13+

The Wild Webinar Series is brought to you by the RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home Glasgow and Edinburgh team with contributions from partners, including support from ScotRail.

An evening seminar about eco-friendly gardening, with speakers from the RSPB, Propagate and Urban Roots.

About this Event

Has lockdown caused you to better appreciate the nature on your doorstep? Would you like to encourage more wildlife into your garden, making sure your efforts benefit both your own needs and those of the species around you that need your help? Then join us in this Green Gardening webinar!

Whether your garden space is large or small, lawn or concrete. Whether you live in the countryside, suburbs or in city flats – there are lots of simple steps you can take to bring wildlife to you. No matter whether you have a green thumb or are a complete gardening novice, come along to this session and together we’ll share experiences and explore lots of practical top tips that’ll make your garden a nature haven, for both you and wildlife to enjoy!

We’ll be joined by some fantastic speakers from brilliant community gardening projects around Glasgow, including Propagate and Urban Roots. Sharing their passion for nature and wildlife-friendly gardening, you will leave feeling informed and positively inspired to get stuck into some green gardening activities in your own gardens and communities. From planting pollinator-friendly plants, making the most of your window boxes and raised beds, reducing garden waste, avoiding harmful chemicals and creating homes for wildlife species, there will be plenty of fun and fulfilling activties for you to enjoy this Spring!

Perhaps you are parents looking for the next fun family activity to do in lockdown, community groups looking to enhance the biodiversity in your area, teachers looking for an environmental/outdoor lesson for the class, or individuals looking to experience blissful and mindful moments immersed in nature. Perhaps you’re someone else entirely! We would love to hear from you.

Please note: if you are under 16 you’ll need to ask your parents or guardians to log in with you, or a trusted adult that they recommend.

If you have any questions, please contact Elouise Cartner at Elouise.Cartner@rspb.org.uk

Using the Toastmasters International programme, we help people develop and improve their public speaking, listening, thinking and leadership skills. We are a friendly bunch, all striving to improve – just like you. We do this in a relaxed and supportive environment where constructive feedback plays an essential role in our progress.

To take the fear out of presenting or speaking at work or in public. To enhance your career potential – to get that job/promotion. To improve your personal communication and leadership skills. Open to anyone aged 18+. Guests are entitled to x3 free visits. Joining fee (one-off) is £15 with x2 semi-annual dues of ~£50 (to pay for TI membership, room hire and tea/coffee etc). We are a non-profit organisation and aim to keep costs as low as possible for all members.

Matt Hume, Curator at Linlithgow Museum will explore West Lothian’s industrial past using a variety of images and maps.

Not just Shale! A variety of industries have flourished in West Lothian, attracted by natural resources and a central location. From tanning to quarrying, from steel founding to spinning, this talk will explore the impact of these industries on the area, its landscape and its people.

The event will initially be broadcast on 28 March 2021. It will be available to view up to a week after the event has ended. If you have any questions please contact faneonline@fane.co.uk

Nicola Benedetti is one of the most sought-after violinists of her generation. Her ability to captivate audiences with her innate musicianship and spirited presence, coupled with her wide appeal as a high-profile advocate for classical music, has made her one of the most influential classical artists of today.

Nicola was already something of a veteran when in 2004 she was unanimously awarded the title of BBC Young Musician of the Year aged 16. She was just four years old when she first picked up a violin. Her natural affinity with the instrument coupled with the enticing potency of her Scottish-Italian heritage laid the foundations for early international success. Somehow or other she has managed to juggle that success (she was twice named ‘Artist of the Year’ at the Classical BRIT Awards) with a passion for music education. Not the dry academic variety but the kind which encourages ‘participation’ at all ages and all levels of accomplishment.

Benedetti is at once one of the sharpest and most searching musical minds in the business and a hugely charismatic communicator and in this exclusive streamed event she’ll be talking inclusivity, fearlessness, and the black magic of interpretation while sharing some choice musical recordings with the writer and presenter Edward Seckerson

The Wild Webinar Series is brought to you by the RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home Glasgow and Edinburgh team with contributions from partners, including support from ScotRail.

Do you care about protecting nature? Would you like to meet with like-minded people and groups, to share ideas and inspiration on how to do this as an individual and wider community? Then this is the webinar for you!

Join us for this online Networking for Nature session, where we invite all community-based groups, projects and organisations that are interested in nature conservation, particularly across the greater Glasgow area, to come together under one virtual roof. Groups will have the opportunity to talk about their interests and aspirations, opening up opportunities for partnership working and the sharing of expertise to add value to our collective work for nature.

As well as building contacts, we will carry out some workshop activities to determine what main barriers exist in taking positive actions for nature in our communities, how these might be overcome and to highlight collective goals that exist across the nature network. For any other topics you would like to discuss, please let us know when you register to attend.

This nature networking meeting is fully inclusive; everybody with an interest in giving nature a home in their community is welcome and we would love to hear from you.

Please note: if you are under 16 you’ll need to ask your parents or guardians to log in with you, or a trusted adult that they recommend.

If you have any questions, please contact Elouise Cartner at Elouise.Cartner@rspb.org.uk