The Echo Observer

Who said Dreams don't come true? His artistic flare had been put on the back burner, now his talent is finding the light as Daniel Fairbairn, recently redundant from the oil industry, took a chance and has his first exhibition. His paintings are in acrylic paint and are on a range of canvases. His work is also printed onto table mats, coasters and cards. Daniel started painting when he was round about 7 years old and continued from there, his school choices reflected his talent, his goal to be an artist. Later on, he moved to more casual jobs his talent being benched for his spare time. Later on, after that Daniel started working within the oil industry for 15 years until being made redundant almost a year ago. With art pieces both privately owned and some in the Royal Infirmary in Aberdeen it's a real wonder how this person has stayed out of the light for so long. Though between working and having a family time is hard pressed and not easy to find. So he wo...

A dram of spirit in every glass! Kickstarted the right way. A Highland Celebration of heritage and history. A dram in each hand and a hearty smile. The whisky festival began with a bang! Whisky tours on for most distilleries for the festival almost every hour, some of the more specialised tours were booked far before Christmas and were twice a day. Along with some art exhibitions. With 91 thousand pounds worth of tickets being sold within the first hour of sales, it was obvious that the festival would have plenty of attention. With people coming from over 20 different countries to participate in Tastings to the local events. On Thursday, Aberlour was wet and rainy the spirits of those around the complete opposite.  With the scout Hall being used for the sale of whisky trinkets, whisky and other items given by distilleries the adventure started. Already packed in the morning barely 10 minutes in. The light reflected on tasting glasses, whiskies, panels of fired wood f...

The Spirit of Speyside is a local festival; in its essence a celebration of our local drink, culture and the tradition. This festival is as much for tourists as it is for the locals. This article is introductory to the Spirit of Speyside. This image is from the Spirit of Speyside Facebook page The whisky festival will be hosting a numerous amount of activities, stalls and events from; a pop-up crafts stall which is to be orchestrated by a lovely local lady and her friends (who are renting the shop for a few days from the owner) to an event at the Cooperage where there will be four highly skilled Coopers building a 190litre barrel in the fastest time possible. Here is the link for more information on the Guinness World record attempt at the Cooperage. Many videos have been created called The Faces of The Festival and can be found on this link for the Spirit of Speyside Facebook Page. These videos show some of the important people who are part of/contributing to the festiva...

I live outside of a small town about 24 miles from the coast, in the north-east of Scotland. Where the grass is painted green in the summer, drowned in the autumn and buried in the winter. The days are long in half of the year and the days seem to do whatever they want towards the end of the annual cycle. All in all where I live is pretty normal; children go to school during the day then hang out with their friends, the local clichés doing whatever they want to friend, foe or town. The weather is as unpredictable as the people, their emotions, daily lives and routines throwing everyone in their surrounding area off of their game. The town just down the road the town sits upon a hill, its outskirts surrounded by a variety of farms, green lichen filled forests, old crack packed roads, shiny Distilleries where the local economy seems to be driven and a small train station that many of the locals use on the weekend. There are small shops, cafes and restaurants within the town. A beaut...