The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Your Weekend Starts here
5 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND
Spend your evening dancing away to Abba or grab a bite at the Taste of Nairn Festival this weekend!
ABBA NIGHT AT CLUB TROPICANA
Gimme, gimme, gimme one ticket to the ultimate Abba disco at Club Tropicana to celebrate 50 years since the beloved Swedish band won the Eurovision.
Dust off your best flares and ponchos and embrace your title as the Dancing Queen on and off the dance floor at the city centre event – and sing to your heart’s content!
Guests at tonight’s event must be 18 years and over for entry. The event begins at 10pm and finishes at 3am with last entry permitted from 12.30am.
Early bird tickets have sold out, Abba Night tickets are available online.
BANFFSHIRE HIGHLAND DAY
Enjoy a day of traditional Scottish music, dance, food and live entertainment at the Banffshire Highland Day tomorrow. The event, at Banff Castle, is fantastic for friends and family to come along to together and immerse themselves in rich Scottish culture.
Tickets can be bought via the event website or through Eventbrite.
DAYTIME DISCO, EXODUS
Late nights are out, afternoon bevvies are in!
Party into the early hours of the day at XO with back-toback DJs, HomeAlone and Dylan McPhee, and avoid the late night cluster of city centre. The Daytime Disco begins today at 3pm and finishes at 7pm, so there’s plenty time to grab a bite pre or post-party time. Guests must be 18 years or over to take part.
Early bird and General tickets are available online.
SPRING MARKET AT WILDWOODZ INVERNESS
Wildwoodz are inviting visitors from near and far to their Archery Field for a weekend of browsing and retail therapy.
Products on sale will be both locally and nationally produced, with art, crafts and food available. Exhibitors are expected to showcase homeware rangers featuring metal work, textiles, antler art, ceramics and giftware, jewellery made from sterling silver, children’s clothes, and much more.
A large selection food and drink will also be on offer, such as steak, various cheeses and fudge.
The event runs from 10am-3pm each day. Entry costs £2 per person – children go free.
TASTE OF NAIRN
The annual three-day food and drink festival – and home of the World Tattie Scone Contest – has returned. On Saturday, two markets will take place across Nairn Community and Arts Centre and Moray Markets.
Demonstrations, tastings and a bake competition are all expected to feature at the event this weekend, which aims to showcase businesses from across Nairn and the wider region.
FOLLOWING IN MOTHER’S FOOTSTEPS
Kenna Anderson has been writing stories since she was a child – and has followed in her mum’s footsteps in becoming an author.
Her mum is none other than renowned Scots writer and P&J Doric columnist Sheena Blackhall.
The pair have joined forces for Sheena’s latest collection, with Kenna collaborating with her mum as a guest writer.
Kenna, of Aberdeen, has worked in corporate communications, but recently her fiction writing has gathered pace.
‘BIGGEST FAN AND BEST CRITIC’
As she said: “I can’t stop writing now”.
Kenna, who is mum to daughter Skye, 7, has her recent crime story, Local Detective Crowned A Hero, featured in her mum’s latest collection Robin Reidbreist’s Testament.
The title includes more of Sheena’s Scots and English poetry and short stories.
After the birth of her daughter, Kenna’s focus turned to freelance writing.
The collaboration with her mum meant Sheena was Kenna’s editor – however, this is something she’s no stranger to.
She explained: “I send everything that I write to my mum especially when I was writing my novel she reviewed every single chapter.”
Kenna added: “We are both passionate writers with different audiences. She’s the first one who tells me if she thinks something’s really good. She’s just honest.”
MAKING WAVES
Last year Kenna was invited to read at the Granite Noir crime writing festival as an emerging crime writer for her story Bobby Was Gone.
She was also a featured author for the Scottish Mountaineering Press for The Beautiful Skye, written in tribute to the origin of her own daughter’s name.
This year, her story I Hope was included in the Scottish Book Trust’s Hope campaign. She completed her first romance novel Can Two Broken Hearts Become A Whole?
Kenna’s work is often centred around romance, but she also likes crime writing. And the strength of the genre and the growing audience for it is something Kenna is thrilled by, saying there is a “quite a market” for it with many “diehard” fans.
But does she have a favourite work of her mum’s? She tells me she loves her poetry.
She added: “She always has something that is just so off the cuff and so funny!”