Dublane Cathedral Welcomes The Prince!

And so to the Cathedral in Dunblane .. and records break!

The venues which have hosted our Tapestry as it has criss- crossed the Highlands from Eriskay at end July to Dunblane this past weekend are as diverse as could ever be imagined. A Sports Hall in Fort William, proud Village Halls in Eriskay, Arisaig and Glenuig, the majestic Ballroom at Blair Castle, an elegant tight-squeeze in Stirling, the 'mutinous' Maritime Museum at Invergordon and these past four days in Dunblane's Cathedral. Where ever next you might ask?

Well, Gullane for a start this coming Thursday 16th in their Village Hall before the Kirk Hall at Duddingston on Sunday 19th and thence the homecoming to The Pans own Community Centre where it will be on display throughout the Battle Trust's 2010 re-enactments from September 24th/ 26th - 11 am / 5 pm each day.

Every venue has of course been unique with the local/ nearby stitchers coming along with friends and to explain the artwork to visitors. And at each destination visitor numbers have just grown and grown, passing 6,200 in total at Dunblane as the Cathedral added its own 1,736 these past 4 days. We even sold out of available Guidebook stocks at Dunblane by lunchtime Monday and that visitor total of 1736 is the largest so far.

Immediately below is the City's iconic panel stitched in the community depicting Balhaldie House where the Prince stayed on September 13th and 14th 1745 - just as we did with our Tapestry 265 years later.

click on all images to enlarge


The white TapVan driven by Arran Jophnston was of course much in evidence on the Cathedral skyline and the poster at the cathedral door, which basked in glorious sunshine all weekend got drenched in the heavy rains on the final Monday! Arran was once again assisted by Andrew Allcorn.



Friday had seen a contented 'stitchers' reunion arranged by Maud Crawford and Saturday saw some 700 guests who were 'entertained' by some ten members of our own Alan Breck Regiment of Volunteers in full uniform [although no obvious sign of the Prince they were offering cameo re-enactments and the occasional dalliance] as they viewed the Tapestry. The neighbouring tea shop and museum added greatly to the overall enjoyment of the day. Monday saw a massive influx of delegates from a World Council of Churches Workshop taking place close by and embroidery enthusiasts.




The images shown below give just a wee glimpse of how fine the Tapestry looked as its many visitors made their way around.




Of particular note perhaps was the juxtaposition of the beautiful blue stained glass window with several of the sea panels from the early stages of the Prince's campaign.