St Kilda Day 2010
06 August 2010
St Kilda Day 2010
80th Anniversary of Final Evacuation
Following the success of the first St Kilda Day in 2009, Proiseact Nan Ealan (the Gaelic Arts Agency) have welcomed the range of events commemorating St Kilda Day 2010 and the 80th anniversary of the islander’s final evacuation.
St Kilda Day arose from the critically acclaimed St Kilda: The Opera, which took place in five European countries simultaneously in the summer of 2007 and was seen by more than 20,000 people throughout Europe. Another 5,000 saw the Belgian production in 2009 when it was the highlight of the Edinburgh International Festival.The St Kildan’s story has captured the imagination of people all over the world and Sunday August 29th 2010 marks 80 years since the islanders’ final departure.
Proiseact nan Ealan are commemorating this anniversary with a Gaelic Psalms Service recorded in the church on St Kilda which will be broadcast on BBC Radio nan Gaidheal’s Deanamaid Adhradh programme at 9am and 3pm on Sunday the 29th August. The Rev. Roderick MacLeod led the congregation in the style traditional to St Kilda. Other events include DS Murray and Will Self at the Edinburgh Book Festival on Monday 31st, arts workshops for children and adults at An Lanntair (28th August) and a special ‘Oidhche Hiort’ at the CCA, Glasgow, with songs, film and a Victorian slideshow detailing a journey across to St Kilda.
St Kilda is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in the UK to be awarded dual recognition for both it’s cultural and natural landscape and there are only 24 such sites worldwide. This exceptional status was reinforced in recent months when archive film footage of St Kilda was one of only 10 documents chosen to repesent Britain in UNESCO’s “Memory Of The World” register, the archive equivalent of world heritage sites.
St Kilda Day will also raise awareness of the efforts of the Ionad Hiort/ St Kilda Centre development group as they move forward with their plans to produce a world class, remote access visitor centre celebrating the natural and cultural heritage of the islands.
For further information and a full list of St Kilda Day events, log onto www.stkilda.eu
