May Festival

This is only my first week with the VisitAberdeenshire team and already they have introduced me to a lot of new and interesting people.

Today I was at the launch of the May festival with my colleague Angela where again I was meeting people from all different places.

First of all I set off from the office thinking it would be a lovely walk up to the Aberdeen University where the festival was being held, however half way there and the rain came on! I got there all in one piece and dry surprisingly (all thanks to the brolly rolling in the bottom of my bag), I met Angela and we walked up to where the launch was taking place in the Elphinestone lawn in the May tent. 

Gemma may fest 1

As everyone rushed into the tent to stay dry there was a piper standing outside playing the bagpipes which gave a true Scot’s feel to the typical Scottish weather.  Once you entered the tent the first thing that caught your eye (well at least my eye) was the table filled with all kinds of delicious foods: such as smoked salmon and poached eggs benedict, pain au chocolat, maple syrup and bacon pancakes (which seemed to be everyone’s favourite). 

gemma may fest 2Angela and I got our tea and coffee and went and sat down where I was introduced to Jennifer Shirreffs, Director of Aberdeen Performing Arts who was just a hoot to spend the morning with.  Jenny also introduced me to many other people these including Professor Sir Ian Diamond who is the principal and Vice chancellor of Aberdeen University who then also introduced me to The May Festivals main sponsor Fahad Al-Abdulkareem from Saudi Aramco who was a very pleasant man and also said how all the people he had met in Aberdeen had been so friendly (we obviously made a good impression). 

 After networking for a while Professor Sir Ian Diamond did a speech on The May festival and to thank all the sponsors of the festival and to finish off the launch Fahad Al-Abdulkareem did a speech on how he was pleased to be the main sponsor of the festival for the second year running and how he was excited to learn about the culture of the city.

The launch of the May festival was a great way to start off the weekend with many more exciting events taking place over the weekend.  For more information visit their website www.abdn.ac.uk/mayfestival