2009 - Events


Plaque

Unveiling of Plaque to honour Neil Gunn
The Inverness Heritage Trust offered to fund a plaque to replace the one that had been removed from the wall of the old Customs and Excise Building (now Optical Express) in Inverness High Street. The Trustees were delighted with this offer and provided the wording for the plaque, and its design. The date of the unveiling is Thursday 4th June 2009.

10th Neil Gunn Writing Competition
The award ceremony takes place at the Town House in Inverness on Tuesday 23rd June 2009. All prize winners have now been notified of their success, but publicity will be withheld until the day of the ceremony. Winning entries will be published on www.highland.gov.uk/neilgunn on the afternoon of Tuesday 23rd June 2009.

Neil Gunn Lecture 2009
This year's Lecture is to be given by Owen Dudley Edwards, historian and Burns expert. The theme is "Burns, Gunn and the Scottish Wider World". It will take place on Wednesday 7th October, once again in the One Touch Theatre in Eden Court, as part of the Inverness Book Festival. The Trust applied for and was granted funding from the Highland Culture Programme. The Lecture is again being sponsored by Sandstone Press, a small, but very successful, local publishing firm.

Dingwall Wildlife Explorers
In 2008 David Lynch, the organiser of the Dingwall Wildlife Explorers, asked the Trustees for permission to use the pond at the Viewpoint. The children who take part are aged 8-12. Part of the East end of the pond was cleared of reeds to enable the children to study the wildlife. Further work is planned for this year.

DVD

DVD of Walk to the River
The Trust is indebted to Alison Wilkie for the DVD of The Walk to the River. This tells the story of Neil Gunn's favourite walk from Brae Farmhouse, up through the fields behind the house, crossing the Heights' road at the point where the Neil Gunn Monument was built, and on and up to the moor and the Skiach river. There is a voice-over of quotations from The Serpent. Various members of the Trust were involved in the making of the DVD, which was originally produced for a private showing on the occasion of the Trust's 20th anniversary. Although not for sale commercially, we have some copies available for those who express a wish to acquire one and who would be happy to cover the costs to the copying firm, postage, etc, by a donation to the Trust.