The Smallholders Gathering in Clachan is run on the sort of goodwill and spirit that can survive anything.
In spite of the on-off rain, there were stalls everywhere with fresh local produce, crafts and information on the local beekeeping group, up and coming events and developments at Tarbert Castle.
There was a medieval game for kids, face painting and, at night, a hilarious ‘Gurning’ competition for big and little kids alike.
Two members of the community had gone into Tarbert an hour before the event to buy fresh mince to make burgers for the night time event – and the car crashed into a ditch just past West Loch Tarbert. Luckily both men were fine but the car was a total write-off.
In site of this, they got themselves into Tarbert, picked up the mince for the home-made burgers and were back at the Smallholders Gathering only half an hour late – with some story to tell family and friends.
In their absence, everyone else had pulled together to keep everything running smoothly. It’s a team effort in Clachan.
At the Smallholders Gathering no-one gets paid to do anything, everyone helps by doing what they like to do or are good at doing.
Not even the musicians get paid.
This creates quite a laid back, no-pressure atmosphere, where there is room for anyone to get up on stage and do anything. Young people have a chance to try out performing their songs to a receptive audience. This year saw some very well received poetry reading in addition to the music.
In this day of money-led events, it is refreshing to see something from nothing but goodwill and teamwork. Argyll’s communities are endlessly good at this – and inventive with it.
At the recent Gala weekend in Furnace on Loch Fyne – its most successful ever – they had a children’s cake icing competition – where it was all done on the spot, with an admiring audience. The kids were given bought cakes, a welter of icing products and equipment and given the GO. They were a model of concentrated creativity, sharing the common materials and kit without argument and giving adults food for thought as well as cake.
As Lorien Silvan from Clachan says – and her husband was one of the heroic survivors of the car crash who brought home the bacon [well, mince] regardless: ‘Community and friends are what is important, not always money.’
The Smallholders Gathering is an enduing testimony to this.
