Hallowe'en and Witches Remembrance 2006 in Prestonpans

Hallowe'en & Witches Programme Announced

The Arts Festival has announced its programme for the 2006 Remembrance of the town's 81 Pardoned Witches at Hallowe'en. And once again Scotland's leading Witch author Roy Pugh has written a new play for presentation telling some of the story of their inhuman sufferings.

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The lead theatrical drama, entitled The Cauldron is the second in a trilogy of plays that Roy Pugh is creating for the town and will be premiered on Saturday October 28th and then performed twice more on Sunday. [Last year readers will recall the first of these Witch! was highly acclaimed]. This year the recently designated Prestoungrange Arts Festival 'Resident Company', The Meanwhilers - led by indweller Malcolm Watson, take to the stage for four performances in all. The Sunday performances will include the annual ceremony of remembrance with the laying of herb posies beneath the names of the 81 who were unjustly executed and are now recorded at the Witches Experience Mural in the south garden of The Prestoungrange Gothenburg.



Glasgow Conference on Hallowe'en & Tourism

Caledonian University in Glasgow is running an international conference on October 31st/ November 1st at which our experience in Prestonpans and that of Alison D'Amario from Salem Massachusetts will be discussed by delegates from across the globe. And on the evening of October 31st The Cauldron will have its fourth performance to the delegates as part of the Prestonpans story.

It is also good to report that Alison D'Amario, who visited The Pans to give us great advice from Salem in 2005, will be returning again and meeting with Arts Club members and others on November 2nd/ 3rd.

Tom Ewing's Witches Mural to be Unveiled at Cuthill Park @ 2pm on October 24th

A third important event this year will be the unveiling at Cuthill Park of Tom Ewing's Witches Mural completed last year with a grant from the Heritage Lottery.



It has already been used at the Global Murals Conference in August for a short re-enactment by The Meanwhilers as delegates toured all the murals going west. But it now has even greater significance for the Arts Festival. It is hoped that it can be the first of many murals in Cuthill Park as a popular cleanup takes effect and an annual 'MuralsFest' presentation, modelled on Sheffield Tasmania's outstanding success, blossoms.