Five hundred school pupils from Angus will step out in style next week to launch this year’s Hospitalfield Summer Festival.
Entitled “We’re Taking you to the Future”, the festival will run from June 17 to July 6.
It will encourage participants, including artists, musicians and food and drink producers, to consider what the future holds through innovation, poetry and hard work.
It will launch on Monday morning at Timmergreens Primary School in Arbroath with a procession of 500 primary seven pupils.
They will take part in the annual Muirfield and Timmergreen Schools Graduation Children’s Procession to Hospitalfield.
Entitled ‘Through Sludge, Sand and Stardust, We’re Taking You To The Future’, the children have been working with choreographers and dancers Mark Bleakley and Katie Miller and artist and designer Laura Darling to create a spectacular event celebrating the primary sevens’ transition to their new school after the summer holidays.
The festival’s packed summer programme continues on June 22 and 23 with the summer open weekend at Hospitalfield, entitled Ways of Living, featuring art works, talks, drawing workshops, tours as well as a pop-up café.
On June 27 there will be a special appearance by musician Gillian Fleetwood who has composed a new work for Hospitalfield based around the Grecian harp in its collection of instruments.
A spokesperson said: “As we plan for the very popular Beer & Berries day out on July 6, our celebration of food and drink in Angus, Tayside and beyond, the ‘We Want Your Jam Competition’ continues.
“We are delighted to have Martin Grant, managing director of Mackays Jam and our very own Hospitalfield chef Simon Brown tasting the jams and coming up with a winner.
“The creator of the winning ‘pot’ will receive a behind the scenes tour of the Mackays jam factory as their prize, a great insight in to jam production at an ambitious scale.”
Beer & Berries will be packed with food and beer stalls, talks and events with the emphasis on different and new ways to approach growing grain and brewing beer.
Also taking part in this year’s festival is the Pictish Trail, “purveyor of the finest space-age disco-wonk pop.”
He will travel from his home on the Isle of Eigg to play this year’s End of Festival Music Event on July 6 at 7pm, accompanied by his full band.
Full details on the festival and events at Hospitalfield are available on its website www.hospitalfield.org.uk
