Clan MacDougall Gathering 2024 Programme
This programme was last updated on the 29th May 2024 and aims to provide an overview of the activities we will be offering on each day of the Clan Gathering with direct bookings links to any with spaces still available.
If you have any questions, please email Florence on florence@dunollie.org .
Tuesday 30th July 2024
Gathering Opening Ceremony
9am, Gathering Marquee, Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds.
Join your fellow clan folk and gathering attendees in Dunollie’s marquee and collect your welcome pack as well as any clan gathering merchandise you ordered. This will be an opportunity meet and greet everyone and be introduced to the week’s activities and our team. There will be a piper present and some stalls to explore. Refreshments will be provided.
Event length: 1.5-2hrs
Admission: Free for Gathering Registration Ticketholders
Guided Tour of Dunollie - FULLY BOOKED
Garden Tour of Dunollie
Scottish Gaelic Taster Session - FULLY BOOKED
Isle of Kerrera Walking Tour - FULLY BOOKED
Guided Tour of Dunstaffanage Castle and Chapel
'Dunollie Rent Book' - a talk by Jennifer Shaw
Oban Walking Tour - FULLY BOOKED
Wednesday 31st July 2024
Photography session – with Aly Robinson
8am, 9am, 10am, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, at Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds.
Meet Aly Robinson for a photoshoot at the castle to commemorate your visit. Aly is an incredibly talented photographer with years of experience in both Scotland and America. She will talk you through the whole session, making sure you are comfortable and suggesting different poses to make the most of the exceptional setting. The shoot will last around 30 minutes.
You are welcome to book your photoshoot as an individual, couple, family, or as a group of friends. Please note that if you would like more than 5 people to participate, you may be asked to book more than one timeslot. If you would like to use another part of Dunollie as your backdrop, that can be arranged too.
Admission: £120
Event length: 30min
Tour of Isle of Lismore
Guided Tour of Dunollie
Historic Kilbride Visit - FULLY BOOKED
Garden Tour of Dunollie – By Maurice Wilkins
Clann Dubhghaill: thoughts on the MacDougalls in the later Middle Ages – A talk Dr Martin MacGregor
Oban Distillery Tour - FULLY BOOKED
Ceilidh Dance Lesson – with Marlynn Turbitt
Scottish Gaelic Taster Session
Thursday 1st August 2024
Tour of Isle of Lismore
8.45am, departure from Oban Calmac Ferry Terminal, please arrive 15 minutes early.
Spend a day on the Isle of Lismore, a hidden gem of the Hebrides and the pearl of the MacDougall crown. Tickets will include return ferry to Lismore, transport around the island, lunch and refreshments throughout the day, as well as your choice of two of the activities below:
· Guided walk with Dr. Bob Hay to the Castle Coeffin Ruin, a 15th century MacDougall stronghold with Norse roots. Level: Steep descents, wear sturdy footwear.
· Guided walk with Douglas Breingan of Paisley Museum to the Lismore Parish Church, formerly St. Moluag’s Cathedral, built in the 15th century by the Clan MacDougall, and Medieval graveslab display. Short Service in Scottish and Gaelic by Rev. Dougald Cameron. Level: Flat surfaces, 10-minute walk. Limited seats in Land Rover available for those who are not able to walk.
· Visit of the Museum, Gaelic Library, and gift shop. Drop-in genealogy service, historic reenactment at the Cottars Cottage, and meet some of the island’s locals at the museum desk.
· Shepherding demonstration with local shepherd Arthur and his collie dogs at Port a Charron’s abandoned 18" century Weaver’s Village. Level. Medium. Sturdy footwear required. Limited seats in 4x4 Rover available for those who are not able to walk on grassy terrain.
· Talk Dy Dr Bob Hay and Douglas Breingan in the Museum room —learn more about recent archaeological excavations and fascinating discoveries in and around St Moluag’s Cathedral, the Glebe, and old Graveyard. Find out how we can all help to secure the future of the Church.
Admission: £89
Event length: Full day (8.45am-4pm)
Guided Tour of Dunollie
Historic Kilbride Visit
Oban Distillery Tour
Scottish Gaelic Taster Session - FULLY BOOKED
Finding Dugald: The first ancestor of the Clan MacDougall – A talk by Catherine Gillies
Garden Tour of Dunollie
Photography session – with Aly Robinson
An Evening at Dunollie
Guided Tour of Dunstaffanage Castle and Chapel
Isle of Kerrera Walking Tour
Friday 2nd August 2024
Photography session – with Aly Robinson
8am, 9am, 10am, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, at Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds.
Meet Aly Robinson for a photoshoot at the castle to commemorate your visit. Aly is an incredibly talented photographer with years of experience in both Scotland and America. She will talk you through the whole session, making sure you are comfortable and suggesting different poses to make the most of the exceptional setting. The shoot will last around 30 minutes.
You are welcome to book your photoshoot as an individual, couple, family, or as a group of friends. Please note that if you would like more than 5 people to participate, you may be asked to book more than one timeslot. If you would like to use another part of Dunollie as your backdrop, that can be arranged too.
Admission: £120
Event length: 30min
Isle of Kerrera Walking Tour - FULLY BOOKED
Guided Tour of Dunollie
Historic Kilbride Visit
Castles & Wildlife Boat Tour – with Coastal Connections - FULLY BOOKED
Piping Recital & Discussion – with Jamie MacGregor
Oban Distillery Tour
Garden Tour of Dunollie
Castles of Argyll: Stories in stone – A Talk by Roddy Regan
Ceilidh Dance Lesson – with Marlynn Turbitt
Oban Walking Tour
Visit of Dunollie's Walled Garden
Dunollie's walled garden is usually closed to the public but will be exceptionally open to let you discover all of the fantastic projects which it is now being used for since being taken over by Hope Kitchen's Greenshoots initiative in November 2023.
Admission: Please consider making a donation of your choice to Greenshoots Oban (this will be possible on the day)
Event length: Drop in for as long as you would like between 9am and 12pm
Saturday 3rd August 2024
Castles & Wildlife Boat Tour – with Coastal Connections
9am, departure from slipway across from the Oban War & Peace Museum, Oban.
Join local brothers Cameron and Struan and explore the local area by the sea, as most people would have before the 19th century. Embark on a sightseeing journey and tick-off all your favourite MacDougall castles from Dunollie, to Dunstaffnage, to Castle Stalker and Gylen. The “Wildlife and Castles” extended boat tour leaves from Oban Bay.
The route takes in sights of Dunollie Castle Ruin, Dunstaffnage Castle, Castle Stalker and Gylen Castle on the Island of Kerrera. This will allow plenty of opportunity to spot bird life such as Guillemots, Gannets, Terns and on a lucky day… a Sea Eagle! You will also be spot the impressive Lismore Lighthouse, an operational fish farm and seal colony.
Please dress warmly and in waterproof clothing as you will be on the boat for the duration of the activity.
Admission: £60
Event length: 1h45-2hrs
Living History Day at Dunollie
Genealogy Sessions – with Caroline Boswell
Oban Distillery Tour
11am, Oban Distillery.
Visit and experience one of Oban’s most iconic buildings (after Dunollie Castle of course), and learn about the history of the town, and the whisky making process. Your visit will include a complete tour of the Distillery with an expert Guide, as well as the opportunity to try three different drams of Oban Whisky.
Admission: £45
Event length: 1hr
Garden Tour of Dunollie
Genetic Roots and Branch of the Clan MacDougall - Could you be a blood descendant of Dougall MacSomhairle, King of the Hebrides? – A Talk by Edward Sweeney (born MacDougall)
Ceilidh Dinner & Dance
6pm, Argyllshire Gathering Halls, Oban.
Join your fellow clan members and Clan Chief for a final evening of celebrations! Enjoy a traditional Scottish dinner (with three courses), have a dram of whisky and get ready to dance at the clan’s biggest ceilidh of the year.
If you are new to ceilidh dancing, fear not, each dance will be explained briefly as it starts and the most important is to have a good time. There are two dancing lessons scheduled to take place in Dunollie in the days before hand which might be useful to you.
Anyone who isn’t able or doesn’t wish to join in is welcome to sit back and enjoy the live music.
Admission: £120 for adults, £80 for children
Availability: Tickets available to registered attendees
Event length: 4hrs
Some ‘Reall MacDougalls’: The Clan Maelanfaid alliance with Clan Dougall during 160 years of war and peace.
3.30 pm, Clan Gatheirng Marquee, Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds.
Join Seanchaidh Dr. Graeme Macaloney, who runs the Clan Maelanfaid FTDNA Project, to hear how the ‘Reall MacDougalls’ manuscript identifies the ancient Argyll kindred, Clan Maelanfaid, as close blood relations of Clan Dugall. Living adjacent to each other, and probably linked by a strategic marriage, the Maelanfaid helped Alexander MacDougall defeat Robert Bruce at the battle of Dalrigh capturing the Brooch of Lorne, bolstered John MacDougall’s army to 2,000 warriors at the fateful battle of the Pass of Brander, and were exiled with John, Ewen and Alan Gallda MacDougall in England. As a learned ecclesiastical family, the Maelanfaid were sponsored by the MacDougalls as Bishops of Argyll.
Admission is free.
Sunday 4th August 2024
Clan Farewell March
10am, Centre of Oban.
End the Gathering on a high note by taking part in a march through Oban with your fellow clan folk and accompanied by a pipe band, share lunch together (included) before heading our separate ways.
The activity is a march so it does require being able to walk however, participants are welcome to join for sections of the march rather than its entirety should that be more suited to them.
Admission: Free for Registration Ticket Holders
Availability: Tickets available for registered attendees.
Event length: 2-3hrs
Clarsach Performance & Workshop – The Argyll Branch of the Clarsach Society
Guided Tour of Dunstaffanage Castle and Chapel
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