East Dunbartonshire offers an array of events all year round. Here are the latest dates for your diary. If you want to add an event, drop us an email.
Further information on this page below:
- Kirkintilloch Canal Festival 2024
- Kirky Picture Palace
- Lillie Art Gallery – latest exhibition
- Auld Kirk Museum – latest exhibition
- Mugdock Country Park
Kirkintilloch Canal Festival 2024
Set your compass for East Dunbartonshire – the dates have been confirmed for the 2024 Kirkintilloch Canal Festival!
This year, the main weekend of activities will take place on Saturday 31 August and Sunday 1 September – with a range of boat trips during the week leading up.
East Dunbartonshire Council is once again organising the festival – which is being fully externally funded – in conjunction with a flotilla of public and private sector partners.
The annual celebration of all things nautical and nice regularly attracts thousands of people of all ages, provides a treasure chest of family fun and boosts the local economy.
Details are still being finalised, but already there are plans for live music, fireworks, food and drink, activities and boat trips. Keep your eyes on the horizon for updates.
This year the festival is being supported by resources allocated by the Council from the UK Government's Shared P
rosperity Fund.
Councillor Gordan Low, Leader of the Council, said, "The Kirkintilloch Canal Festival is popular with people throughout East Dunbartonshire and beyond, so I'm pleased we have been able to confirm that external funding has been secured for this year's celebration.
"Once again the focus will be on providing as many free activities as possible – including canoeing, classic cars, the Saturday evening concert with live music and fireworks, and more.
"The festival will take place at Southbank Marina and various locations around the town – including the redeveloped Regent Gardens – giving residents and visitors the opportunity to enjoy the area and attractions, while supporting local businesses."
The festival includes partners such as East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust, Kirkintilloch Baptist Church, the Regent Centre, Police Scotland, New College Lanarkshire – Kirkintilloch Campus, the Forth and Clyde Canal Society, the Seagull Trust, Scottish Canals, Your Kirky and Kirkintilloch Business Improvement District.
Keep an eye on the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival webpage for information (link opens in new window).
Kirky Picture Palace
For the latest information, check out Your Kirky on TikTok (external link opens in new window), Facebook (external link opens in new window) and X (external link opens in new window).
The Kirky Picture Palace events are held in Kirkintilloch Town Hall, Union Street, Kirkintilloch G66 1DH.
Lillie Art Gallery – latest exhibition
Not one but two fantastic exhibitions are currently on at Milngavie’s Lille Art Gallery.
An evocative show by Roger McNulty entitled ‘Beyond the Furnace’ reflects the conflicts between people’s needs and the environment, against the backdrop of climate change. On the same day, Saturday 13 April, the Bearsden Art Club Annual Exhibition opens to the public.
Councillor Jim Gibbons, Chair of East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust, which runs the Lillie Art Gallery, said, "We are delighted to welcome these two high calibre exhibitions to the Lillie. Roger McNulty has exhibited at galleries across the UK and Asia, and we are delighted to host his latest, highly evocative show. The themes of navigating progress against a backdrop of climate change really captures one of the great debates of our time.
“In addition, the Bearsden Art Club Annual Exhibition is a highlight on the arts calendar. The consistently high quality of artwork attracts visitors from near and far and we are pleased to showcase yet another year of inspiring work from the club.”
Roger McNulty hails from the steel town of Motherwell and grew up overlooking the fertile Clyde Valley framed by acres of colourful furnaces burning against the skyline. The rolling mills and trains shunting of this landscape are captured in his artwork. He first studied art in Glasgow while completing an engineering apprenticeship and went on to graduate in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, London.
His work evokes both the steel-making process itself and the communities dependent upon it and includes sketches, digital images, painting, video, maps, sculpture, photographs and memory. This exhibition reflects on some significant aspects of the industry, its consequences, and research to alleviate the impact of its CO2 emissions.
Bearsden Art Club was established in 1953 and remains a vibrant and thriving part of the arts scene. Its show will appeal to everyone with an interest in art, and includes paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolour as well as ceramics, textiles, and sculpture.
Throughout the exhibition, there will be an Artist in Residence, which will allow visitors to meet the artists behind the works and find out more about them and the club.
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'Roger McNulty - Beyond the Furnace’ runs until Thursday 13 June.
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Bearsden Art Club Annual Exhibition runs until Thursday 9 May.
For the latest information, call 0141 956 5536 or visit the Lillie Art Gallery webpage (external link opens in new window)
Auld Kirk Museum – latest exhibition
Scotland's landscapes, history and horticulture are at the heart of an evocative new exhibition at the Auld Kirk Museum.
'Geoff Foord – Peaks and Petals' is on at the Kirkintilloch venue from 27 April to 30 May 2024.
The artist – who was born in Glasgow and now lives in Milngavie – found his calling after swapping computers for creating paintings.
Foord, a former civil engineer, said, "Painting is a passion – giving wings to my love of Scottish landscapes, history and flowers.
"A frequent visitor to the Highlands and, in particular, Lochaber and the Hebrides, I enjoy walking and exploring the ever-changing mountain landscape."
As an active member of a number of art groups – including Bearsden Art Club, Milngavie Art Club, Milton of Campsie Art Club and the Antonine Art Group – he has found companionship through art.
Foord's work has been shown widely and in East Dunbartonshire – including the Lillie Art Gallery, the Auld Kirk Museum and art shows in Milton of Campsie.
His Scottish paintings have found their way to homes throughout the world – from Australia and Canada to Switzerland, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
'Geoff Foord – Peaks and Petals' is on from 27 April to 30 May 2024 at the Auld Kirk Museum, Cowgate, Kirkintilloch, G66 1HN. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-1pm and 2-5pm. Closed Sunday and Monday. Admission is free.
The official opening takes place on Saturday 27 April at 2.30pm – all welcome.
For the latest information, call 0141 777 3013 or visit the Auld Kirk Museum webpage (external link opens in new window).
Mugdock Country Park
Visit the Mugdock what's on webpage for info on events (external link opens in new window).