The Bearsden Festival is delighted to announce that, thanks to an award from the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Community Fund, they have created an interactive theatre show that will tour to every primary school in Bearsden this June. This exciting piece of musical storytelling will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the discovery of the famous Bearsden Shark fossil in the Manse Burn near Baljaffray in 1982.
Local children will be introduced to Sam and Jo, a pair of time-travelling fossil hunters who will take them on a journey through Space and Time to discover the shark swimming in a tropical lagoon 330 million years ago, when Bearsden was part of a prehistoric landmass close to the equator. The audience will also be introduced to the poem, The Bearsden Shark, by Edwin Morgan, Scotland’s first Makar (or poet laureate) who was a Bearsden resident.
Bearsden Festival Association chair, Jane Gordon said:
“The Bearsden Festival is all about making our community a more vibrant place to live and promoting wellbeing for everyone, so we really wanted our first live post-pandemic event to be something entertaining for all the children who have missed out on a lot of fun over the last two years. As well as learning something exciting about their local environment, we just want them to enjoy themselves. And an adapted version of the show will also tour to local care homes and sheltered housing in order to revive our successful 2019 “Festival at Home” for senior citizens now that we are allowed to visit them again”
Councillor Lynda Williamson, Convener of East Dunbartonshire Council's Education Committee is delighted that the Bearsden Festival team will be entertaining local pupils.
She said:
"This performance promises to be a fun and exciting way for children to learn a bit about their local history, keeping it alive for future generations. It is fabulous that we can welcome performers into our schools once again and I am sure they will raise a smile among the children with their exciting show, as they begin to wind down towards the summer holidays."
The show, which has been devised and directed by theatre maker Hannah Justad will be performed by actor Raymond Wilson and cellist Simone Seales (pictured at the site of the discovery of the Bearsden Shark).
Future Festival events throughout the summer and in early September will include a Community Film School for young people and families with a Red Carpet Screening; Shark Hunt treks along the Manse Burn with Mugdock Ranger Alan McBride; an exhibition in association with the Bearsden Shark Group featuring artwork from local children; and a Poetry Please evening in celebration of Edwin Morgan.
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