Friends of Innerpeffray Library Talk

Following a visit to Innerpeffrey Library in 2017 to hear a talk on The Scottish Diaspora Tapestry with a friend from Adelaide, I received a request to give an illustrated talk to Friends of Innerpeffray Library, near Crieff, Scotland.
Thanks to Friends Of Innerpeffray Library Programme, I took this from their page of events for 2018 on their website  https://friendsofinnerpeffraylibrary.com/meetings-and-events
“8th August   Rita Bradd:   The Final Voyage of Clipper Ship City of Adelaide (1864)
The remarkable story of one woman’s obsession and how far she was prepared to go to see it through was the subject of the August talk. Poet Rita Bradd’s passion for tall ships led her to HMS Carrick, a dilapidated old wreck of a 19th century clipper ship which was slowly disintegrating at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine. However, this particular clipper, the oldest surviving clipper in the world, has a fascinating history having started life as a migrant ship called City of Adelaide. When she was scheduled for demolition, the city of Adelaide in Australia won the bid to save her and arrangements were made for her to be transported across the globe on a massive cargo ship, MV Palanpur.
Panel AU27 of the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry showing the City of Adelaide. This was stitched by Rosemary McKay and was part of the display at Morrison’s Academy in 2017.
Rita had been following the fate of the ship and applied for permission for accompany her on her final voyage. Thus began an intrepid 22,000 km, 10 week journey to see the ship safely delivered to her new home. Thanks to her extensive research, Rita was lucky enough to source a copy of a diary written on the ship’s maiden voyage and she has written a parallel diary of her own to commemorate this momentous trip. Rita’s talk links back to last year’s FOIL talk and exhibition about the Scottish Diaspora tapestry which featured this  panel which depicted The City of Adelaide in her heyday.”
I was given a tour of the library in the early afternoon and saw many books, some hundreds of years old, and interesting items on display. Following the talk, I was granted lifelong membership of the library and was presented with a beautiful floral bouquet.
Check https://www.facebook.com/ClipperShipCoA/ for the continuing story of City of Adelaide

Return to Adelaide, and Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2017

One of Captain Bruce’s great-great-granddaughters invited me to the Australian Wooden Boat Festival which is held every two years in Hobart, Tasmania.  I was so excited to be going back to Adelaide as my first port of call, especially as I was giving two talks on board City of Adelaide, on the weekend of 3 and 4 February.  I was met at the airport by my lovely, generous hosts Ian and Jeanette, who are always very welcoming, fun and helpful, and friend Rosemary who was waving the Saltire.

I could hardly contain myself the next morning when we went to Port Adelaide to see the clipper ship.  She is still sitting on barge Bradley, however a good amount of work is going on inside the hull, such as scraping off the old paint from the iron beams in the ‘tween deck and painting them with the original colour from 1864, planning out for replica 1st class cabins.  New windows have been fitted into the stern where Captain Bruce’s cabin was, as well as a very smart new South Australia Coat of Arms.

It was such a thrill to have two fantastic musicians involved with the first talk.  I had understood City of Adelaide‘s honorary piper, and Commander of Clan Ross in Australia would not be able to come along for the evening.  As I immersed myself in the sights, smells and feel of the ship in the ‘tween deck where I was giving the talks, I heard the lilt of the pipes permeating through her planks.  I rushed out and saw Des in finest regalia, playing the pipes.  I was also hugely honoured that Adelaide-based international singer/harpist Siobhan Owen accompanied me on her clarsach (small lever harp) with my composition City of Adelaide : Farewell to Scotland whilst I read my poem City of Adelaide Bleeds before launching into my presentations to a well-attended audience.

I was lucky to meet Siobhan again in Edinburgh during the Festival Fringe in August 2017, when we repeated our performance on two evenings. https://siobhanowen.com/

 

The Three Craws Gaun Tae Rabbie Burns’ Birthday Pairty At The Globe Inn, Dumfries 2018

This is our fifth year performing my play in Scots Language with plain English narration in The Globe Inn, Dumfries – Robert Burns’ favourite drinking hole in which he discussed and read poetry with friends.  It’s a wee room full of interesting pictures and objects and a wonderful fireplace.  The Poet’s chair stands in a corner and it’s lovely to sit on it and hope that some of his talent might be absorbed!  We are delighted to be returning, and this year we have a special … a workshop on the script and music!

Come and hear what happens when The Three Craws leave their perch on Edinburgh Castle wall and fly south to Dumfries where the smell of haggis tempts them to the unthinkable, and they have to suffer the consequences.  The Three Craws meet Tam O’Shanter and Meg escaping from the witch Nannie Dee and her coven, find some spooky writing on the windows of The Globe Inn and more!

The schedule is :

Saturday 20th January

1 pm –       Performance in Rabbie’s Howff in The Globe Inn

2 – 3 pm –  Workshop in the Bakers Oven

4 pm –        Performance in Rabbie’s Howff in The Globe Inn

Sunday 21st January

Afternoon performances in Rabbie’s Howff, The Globe Inn, with musical interludes at –

1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm.

Events are FREE, bucket donations welcome …

We hope to see you there!

The Three Craws An The Mysterious Licht At Sunny Dunbar

The Three Craws An The Mysterious Licht At Sunny Dunbar is No. 11 in my series of plays based on the crows sung about in the traditional Scots ditty ‘Three Craws Sat Upon A Wa’.  I wrote the script in 2015 and it was first performed as part of Dunbar’s Coastword Festival of Words.

We were invited to perform in the brand new outdoor space within The Battery on Lamer Island, Victoria Harbour, Dunbar.  We did not quite make being the first performers in the new space, but were close, as second.

The space is amazing, there’s an historical timeline in the path leading to the entrance.  Once inside, there’s a wooden platform and seating, with the names of the Weather Forecast carved in.  There are stainless steel cubes.  Read …

https://dunbarbattery.org.uk/the-location/public-art/

A fan enjoys a hot cuppa from a ‘The Three Craws’ mug,

available via my Shop

 

 

 

 

Golden Hare Books Hear Hare Here #4 19 October 2017 6.30-8 pm

We’re back! Each month at Hear Hare Here, we’ll be bringing you three of our favourite poetic voices in a cornucopia of verse, MCed by our very own bookseller and poetry lover Alice Tarbuck. Flee the darkening evenings and join us as we light up the night with words, with readings and performances from the glorious Freddie Alexander, the oh so lovely Janette Ayachi and a mystery guest to be announced! Pick up a glass of wine on arrival and, as no poetry night is complete without a raffle, take a chance of winning a blind date with a book…

Freddie AlexanderFrederick “Freddie” Alexander is a writer and events organiser based in Edinburgh. Since 2013 he has been an organiser and host of the Inky Fingers Open Mic night, and has been an organiser of various other Edinburgh poetry nights. Freddie is a freelance writer for Broadway Baby, ScotsGay, and Flint & Pitch. He works for the National Library of Scotland.

 

Janette AyachiJanette Ayachi

Janette Ayachi is a Scottish-Algerian poet. She collaborates with artists, has been shortlisted for a few chewable accolades, and has performed her work on BBC radio, as well as at events across the UK. She is the author of poetry pamphlets Pauses at Zebra Crossings and A Choir of Ghosts, and a children’s chapter book The Mermaid, The Girl and The Gondola. She is currently working on a memoir titled Misdialing The Muses.

Rita Bradd

RITA BRADD is published since 2007 in a number of anthologies, and has read in many venues. In
2016 at StAnza – the Scottish International Poetry Festival held in St Andrew’s – her poem ‘City of
Adelaide Bleeds’ was a film installation.
‘Salt and Soil’ is Rita’s debut pamphlet, published in August 2017. Rita is completing her book on
her voyage to South Australia on a cargo ship with the oldest surviving clipper ship City of
Adelaide/Carrick.

 

https://goldenharebooks.com/event/hear-hare-4/

The Three Craws Gaun Tae Rabbie Burns’ Birthday Pairty At The Globe Inn, Dumfries 2017

 We were really chuffed to be invited again to perform in The Globe Inn, Dumfries and were delighted to do so. Lee Yeswithbellson and Oliver Sudden did a wonderful job with a massive programme of events with lots of exciting, eye-catching publicity. The hospitality we receive from the Inn is top quality with delicious pub food, great coffee and beer, and great company and fun! Oliver surprised us on the Sunday by doing a live-stream of music with the play slipped in. It was a bit like swimming in a fish bowl knowing everything we did was on camera! Now I know what the Osborne’s felt like! Thanks everyone at The Globe! Looking forward to next year!

23 January

We had the most amazing time in The Globe Inn, Dumfries at the weekend performing The Three Craws Gaun tae Rabbie Burns’ Birthday Pairty At The Globe Inn, Dumfries. It was something really special to perform this with my husband and two of my kids in the actual room our Bard Robert Burns wrote poems and discussed poetry in and may well just have had a wee dram or two. Congratulations to my substitute Craw 2 who has never done this before! I thought he was brilliant, and just seeing them jamming along as they do at home on live stream is pretty cool. With huge thanks to Lee Yeswithbellson Mcqueen and Michael Oliver Sudden for taking such good care of us, feeding us and doing all the promo work. Hope to see you again before we return next year for The WEE Fringe during the Big Burns Supper!

Steven Hill a wee mention of Dunbar T-Shirt Shop around 53 minutes in. Thanks for the wonderful service you give in providing our mugs & coaster sets, t-shirts, caps, badges, and anything you can make with our logo on.

Promoter for The Wee Fringe Oliver Sudden live streamed us to Facebook …

The WEE Fringe‘s live video.

 

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Oliver Sudden at The Globe Inn.

22 January · Dumfries ·

 Great morning with Rita Bradd

Posted by The WEE Fringe on Thursday, 5 January 2017

Some of our wonderful audiences singing along …

 

Check out The Three Craws here, appearing at The Globe Inn, Dumfries with The Three Craws Gaun Tae Rabbie Burns’ Birthday Pairty At The Globe Inn, Dumfries on 21st January on the hour every hour from 11am to 2pm and on Sunday 22nd on the hour every hour from 11.30am to 2.30pm.

The script is based on Tam O’Shanter. See what The Three Craws get up to on their visit to The Globe …

The Globe is one of Robert Burns’ favourite places back in the day to have a pint or so, blether with his pals and write poems. Lots of performances to chose from … and you can get your plate of haggis afterwards, from 2.30pm.

Tickets available … come on, come and join us for a family fun time with lots of laughs and music.

Previously appeared in The Scottish Storytelling Centre, Coastword Festival Dunbar and The Globe Inn with further scripts in the series.

Looking forward to seeing you there! Rita xx

Buy tickets for Wee Fringe Burnsfest 2017’s forthcoming events.

ticketsource.co.uk

Look what they done to Mama Craw! She’s in the pink! Love it! Thank you Oliver Sudden 🙂

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The WEE Fringe at The Globe Inn.

Author Rita Bradd and The Three Craws Series of Scripts and Books, by Rita Bradd a wonderful story telling day on 21st and 22nd Jan! Get yer tickets online@ weefringe.com

Check us out in The List

Rita Bradd’sthe Three Craws” Family Storytime at Globe Inn, Dumfries | The List
Rita Bradd’sthe Three Craws” Family Storytime: Globe Inn, Dumfries – tickets.
list.co.uk

Check us out here too

Tickets and information for The Globe Inn in Dumfries on Saturday 21st January 2017 from Ents24.com

Tam O’Shanter gets The Three Craws treatment here … Fun! Celebrating oor Bard and … The Three Craws!

https://www.facebook.com/WeeFringe/photos/pb.217806011956358.-2207520000.1484139219./227252564345036/?type=3&theater

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The WEE Fringe

Very Pleased to have Rita Bradd and the three craws,great for all the family no matter what age you are!!

Happy Anniversary Clipper Ship City of Adelaide

Today is the 150th Anniversary of the maiden voyage of clipper ship City of Adelaide.  She was built in Sunderland by William Pile and left London headed for South Australia on 6th August 1864.  Photo from Wikipedia.

WilliamPileBust.jpg

William Pile and I share the same birthday – though I hasten to add, not the same birth year!

I was lucky to voyage with City of Adelaide on board heavy-lift cargo ship M V Palanpur, leaving Rotterdam on 26 November 2013 and arriving in Port Adelaide on 3 February 2014 after 70 days at sea.

Captain David Bruce was City of Adelaide‘s first Master and part-owner.  Photo from Wikipedia.

Capt_David_Bruce_ca1864

I was delighted to meet Captain Bruce’s great-granddaughter Pam Whittle at a Reception to welcome City of Adelaide home, on board one of Port Adelaide’s cruise boats Dolphin Explorer.  Pam is an amazing lady with two sparkling daughters, Meredith and Julia and all have become treasures in my life.  This photo gives the scale of size of City of Adelaide, thanks to Meredith for sending me it.

Jumbo Jet and City of Adelaide

… and here I am.  I stayed on board Palanpur until City of Adelaide was off loaded onto the barge Bradley, her temporary home.

Outer Harbour, Port Adelaide. City of Adelaide being 'skidded' off MV Palanpur onto barge Bradley, her temporary home.

Thank you for looking!  I hope to see you again soon.

Rita