Here is a selection of ongoing activities and events we have contributed to. If you like this, and want to help keep it going then you could become a supporter to stay in touch or an active member to take part:
Heritage Festivals and Public Engagement events (ongoing repeat bookings)
Including Nithraid, Historic Environment Scotland Events, and Perth Medieval Fairs
- Making spaceThursday evening are Cluaran evenings! In the workshop. 19.00 to 21.00 Drop in with your own project. Share skills to try something new. (Pay what you can/£5 contribution to the Cluaran club if you have the cash. Contributions in kind welcomed as well. Ask about Wordsmith Crafts Cluaran and Quartz memberships too!) Please leave this… Read more: Making space
- Winter 2025Thursday evening are Cluaran evenings! Keep the evening free for hands on access to heritage. In the run up to Christmas we will be gathering for a range of activities. More details of each evening will be posted here. Making Space:Drop in with your own project. Share skills to try something new. Storytelling: In the… Read more: Winter 2025
- Nithraid 202523rd of August, Dumfries – Boats on the Nith @contact us! if you would like to row on the river. Even better, let us know if you would like to sit and make model boats with people. In particular, pop pop boats from recycled materials. This draws attention to the principles of boat building –… Read more: Nithraid 2025
- Muster!Upcoming activities in June Simon plans to take Cluaran on the water on the evening of Thursday the 5th. Gather at the WSC workshop at 18.00 and we will check the weather. Perhaps we will make to to the pub afterwards this time! We will be introducing people to Viking era rowing at Carmunnock Gala… Read more: Muster!
- Pen and ThinkStories have been plucked from the wind and passed down to us from ancient days, with the aid of goose feathers. The quills of scribes fluttered over a thousand years ago to record tales that were much older. Come and experience storyteller Simon Lidwell bringing a selection of these to life. The tales will be… Read more: Pen and Think
School Visits (ongoing repeat bookings)
Assembly style presentations, small group work, hands on experiments and crafts – and boats!
We have visited school throughout the Galloway Glens, The Rhins of Galloway, Lockerbie and The Scottish Borders, Edinburgh, and Further afield to Thurso, the Isle of Mann – wherever there is silver and fame to be won!
- Viking AnswersWell, more like Viking discussion starters! What it is like to be visited by someone from the Viking era? Cathbad has recorded some answers to the sort of Questions he gets asked by School children. These might be handy if you live too far away from our base in Dumfries to arrange a visit in… Read more: Viking Answers
- SortingTwo successful school visits After the school visiting there is the unpacking, sorting, checking and repairs! It was great to be asked back to two schools from last year though. Both teachers and pupils have been very complimentary about one of the activities we offer. In the “Settler to Sea King” game the pupils form… Read more: Sorting
- School Visiting!It’s that time of year when we get requests to visit Schools again! We offer tailor made visits to each school. we usually visit for a full day and use a combination of clothing, crafts, games, and objects to hold to involve the pupils in a story. They get to spend a day with one… Read more: School Visiting!
- Beattock PrimaryCathbad visited Beattock Primary School recently. Here is their post on facebook which gives you an insight into how we navigate our way through history.
- Autumn travelsIn Dumfries and Galloway there are two weeks of school holidays in October. Traditionally this was to free up young people to help howk the tatties from the fields. For Cluaran it meant that we could run a story and crafts session for kids on hokiday at Annan museum. It also meant that we could… Read more: Autumn travels
Some highlights from over the years
Nithraid in Dock Park Dumfries 2023
Getting the boat out on the water! We arranged to launch Cluaran from the Loreburn slip on enough evenings to train a crew of rowers for the Nithraid day. We have kept a log of the experience. On the day we set up a medieval pavilion, rustled the salty coo and populated the festival with time travellers both on and off the water.
Tales at the Tap
Once a month for the last couple of winters we have been gathering in the Riverside Tap (Beer without Borders) for an evening of storytelling and music. Simon tells the stories accompanied by Kate, who also sings. Sometimes we have all joined in the singing. These evenings are free to attend and there is a wide selection of drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), although the main focus is on ales.
Summer is the time to take it on tour!
Kirkcudbright Galleries, Galloway Hoard 2022
We arranged the “going away” event with craft workshops, a parade, a Viking encampment and even a boat burning.
Wordsmith Crafts CIC
Cluaran became a Wordsmith Crafts project, part of a community interest company formed to make heritage more accessible.
International Skiffie World, Stranraer 2019 (Early Medieval)
Working with archaelogists and rowing enthusiasts – as well as the general public
Hidden Histories 2018, 2019 (Medieval)
With Sleeping Giants in Dumfries and Galloway – Visit the “Gallovidian Way” to follow the legacy of this work.
Invaders in the Solway 2018 (Roman/Iron Age)
With Dumfries Museum. Making anchor cables and exploring the Roman world from the supply ports on the Solway.
Thurso Viking Festival 2014, 2016 (Viking era!)
We set up a small shipyard, complete with an artifical pond for model boats. We built them a boat to burn on a beach and arranged an evening spectacular
Burnswark Excavations 2016 (Roman/Iron Age)
Interpretation work with Annan Museums and primary schools. Interpreting the archaeology which re-wrote our understanding of the Iron age hill fort
Festival of Museums in Dumfries 2015 (Early Medieval)
Static boat display and schools work.
Check back for more!
