Residents of Durness are celebrating after the first arts festival staged in the village picked up a major national award. The three-day event, held in memory of John Lennon, has been voted the best new festival in the UK.
The champagne corks popped among the 10-strong group from the far north-west when the announcement was made at the glitzy UK Festival Awards in London. The John Lennon Northern Lights Festival pipped 13 other shortlisted newcomers to one of the main prizes at the ceremony.
Festival co-ordinator Mike Merritt received the honour "It's just incredible," Mr Merritt said afterwards. "We were up against festivals which had stacks of public funding so I think it's a real credit to everybody involved at Durness that we achieved this success on such a small budget."
The Lennon link stemmed from the ex-Beatle spending many of his childhood holidays in Durness, staying with a relative who had a croft-house at Sangomore.
Mr Merritt said: "It was where he was often happiest during a turbulent childhood. That is why his family so enthusiastically endorsed the event and we are especially grateful to Yoko Ono Lennon for her support and permission to use John's name."
Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird attended, as did his cousins Stan Parkes and David Birch. As well as top musical acts, the Durness festival included poetry, drama, theatre, artwork and photography.
Mr Merritt praised the support and co-operation he and his fellow organisers had from local people during the festival, which attracted over 1000 revellers. He said: "They pulled out all the stops to make the festival the success it turned out to be. Durness certainly knows how to party and make visitors feel extra-special. I'd also like to thank North Highland Tourism group for their promotion of the event and for having the guts to back my crazy idea."
An hour-long feature on the Durness festival is being broadcast on the Iain Anderson show on BBC Radio Scotland at 10.30pm on Wednesday, November 21.
www.northhighlandsscotland.com/festival/
