Karen Macfarlane

I’m just back from the Wee Gaitherin poetry festival in Stonehaven and this year I was happy to be part of the small powerhouse of volunteers that organised the festival. Over the past year I’ve had my eyes opened to the amount of time and work that goes into this sort of event – all that stuff that seems to happen by magic. It doesn’t, of course, but it really does create magic, and the festival weekend was a joy from start to finish, with a fabulous mix of poets and some music as a bonus. There was a poetry walk along the shore the Ken Cockburn and a moving Peace, Justice and Resistance event at the cliff-top war memorial. I’ve come away loaded with inspiration. And I was able to round it all off with a douk in the most perfectly sheltered wee harbour – a haven indeed.