Kirkcudbright Summer Festivities’ showpiece event of the year, the Floodlit Tattoo, will have an international flavour this year – thanks to the town’s Burns connections, the News can reveal.
The spectacular finale on August 27 will feature assembled local pipe bands, country dancers, the unbeaten Kirkcudbright tug o’war team and a dramatic firework display.
But arguably top billing goes to the Calgary Burns Singers – who are coming all the way from Alberta in Canada.
The choir will be performing at the tattoo for the first time as part of their 2022 tour of Scotland.
One member is Calgary Burns Club president Charlie Malone, a former Kirkcudbright man who emigrated to Canada a few years ago to work in the oil business.
And the choir’s musical director is Ayrshireman Henry Cairney, a personal friend of former Robert Burns World Federation president and Kirkcudbright Summer Festivities director Ian McIntyre.
Ian told the News: “I got to know Henry through the Burns scene in Canada and got on with him like a house on fire.
“I played guitar and he played accordion and keyboards – you’ve heard of the band One Direction, well we were Nae Direction.
“Henry has been across to stay with me a few times and on one occasion three of four years ago I said to him ‘I know the singers have performed at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo – how about performing at Scotland’s biggest and best tattoo, Kirkcudbright?’
“He agreed and when I put it to Kirkcudbright Summer Festivities chairman John Blaikie was hooked right away.
“I am delighted they are coming not least because this probably will be their last ever international tour.”
The choir, which formed in 1994 and performed in Scotland at the Edinburgh Tattoo in 2009, will also perform at the Scottish Night in Kirkcudbright on Thursday, August 25 and again at the parish church service on Sunday, August 28.
They will then leave Galloway to tour Ayrshire and Glasgow, performing at various venues.
Ian said: “This is the 50th year of the Summer Festivities and getting the Calgary Burns Singers is a major coup for the town.
“As far as I am aware there has never been an international presence in the tattoo line-up in previous years.
“It’s huge for the town – the singers are entertainers first and foremost and their repertoire extends far beyond Burns songs.”
Ian has been invited to speak at the Calgary Burns Supper in January 2023 – with Charlie Malone as president of the club.
Charlie’s father was the late Dr Charles Malone who was a GP in the town for 30 years.
The tattoo attracts around 5,000 spectators has been two years in abeyance due to the
pandemic.
