Isle of Eigg

More detail…….

Eigg hosts eco – festival

The first Giant’s Footstep Family Festival takes place on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 May and has something to satisfy everyone’s eco curiosity. The Festival includes talks, workshops, music, theatre, and a range of experts on hand to provide advice and answer questions about what individuals and communities can do to tackle climate change.

The tiny Isle of Eigg is poised to welcome an influx of families with a green future in mind for a weekend of events which explore all things green.   Named after a geological feature on the Hebridean island, the first Giant’s Footstep Family Festival includes talks, workshops, music, theatre, and a range of experts on hand to provide advice and answer questions about what individuals and communities can do to tackle climate change.

Whether visitors come for the day, or the whole weekend, the Giant’s Footstep Family Festival on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd May has something to satisfy everyone’s eco curiosity.

The festival kicks off Saturday lunchtime with a family workshop, Community Climate Change Challenge, followed by a talk about the community renewable electricity generation schemes on Eigg and at Findhorn and a hands-on workshop on composting and recycling, by Lochaber Environmental Group.  Children have plenty of choice, with recycled art and weaving workshops, music, circus skills, and fun in the forest with a green mud man workshop.

Eco Drama, Scotland’s only eco theatre company will be premiering their new play The Isle of Egg on Sunday afternoon.  An ecological fable inspired by the real Eigg with live music, eco gadgets, and humorous characters who take a magical journey to an island where the future has already started!  Egg has hydro cars, boats run on candle wax, and its very own solar, wind and wave powered electricity – not to mention some crazy bicycle creations

Sunday also sees talks on the Transition Town movement, and Comrie’s Street by Street insulation project, which aims to insulate the whole of Comrie, thus saving fuel and money.

Between visits to a local tree nursery, organic croft, and Eigg Primary Eco School, and the chance to make your own herbal tinctures from local plants, visitors can get advice and information from a range of experts from Scottish Wildlife Trust, Lochaber Environmental Group, Climate Challenge Fund, Community Energy Scotland, Energy Saving Scotland, Changeworks, The Green Party and SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development).

With music from the Belle Star Band, The Duplets, Bevvy Sisters, and Sharon King, and a special screening of the film The Age of Stupid, the festival will be the biggest two day event the island has run as part of its quest to win NESTA’s Big Green Challenge.  Eigg is the only Scottish finalist in this national competition to win £1million, with ten finalists battling to achieve significant carbon reductions in innovative ways which encourage other communities to do the same.

All day time events are free, and tickets for the Ceilidh can be purchased in advance from www.thebooth.co.uk. Ferries come to Eigg from Mallaig and Arisaig and camping is available for those who want to stay overnight. Visitors who travel to Mallaig or Arisaig by public transport will get discounts on local food, bike hire and other services.

The Giant’s Footstep Family Festival is part funded by Community Energy Scotland, The Highland Council, Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund, The Scottish Arts Council, NESTA, Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust and is supported by First Scotrail.

For more information go to www.isleofeigg.org,  telephone 01687 482 476 or email greenisland@isleofeigg.net

Tickets are onsale now from www.thebooth.co.uk – hurry and get yours today!