Beltane 2006: Torchies & Stewards

Previous Meetings

Saturday 29 April: Fundraising busk, 1pm onwards at the Foot of the Mound on Princes Street. Was spectacular...

Thursday 27 April: Fundraising busk at 6pm onwards at the Foot of the Mound on Princes Street.

Wednesday 26 April: Final Stewards' Torchbearers' and PointGuard training in the Meadows. Blue with a hint of Red. Some new games, some new exercises. There was also some fireproofing of clothes and giving out of costumes.

Sunday 23 April: First Walkthrough, followed by Health and Safety briefing (which almost everyone made it to - well done!). The walkthrough also went pretty well, with only a few bits needing tweaking.

Friday 21 April: away night. Tabards were dealt with, fire was made, food was barbecued, drink was drunk.

(We could tell you whether or not there'd been any kind of secret project, but then we may or not have to kill you)

Thursday 20 April: fundraiser club. An excellent evening, during which we made enough money.

Wednesday 19 April at 6.30pm: Last non-walkthrough practice on the Hill (corner of the Observatory nearest the gun) - turnout a tad disappointing, but a productive evening nevertheless.

Sunday 16 April at 1pm: Torchbearers' ball-making session at tePooka (Lady Lawson Street - the big red doors on the left going down hill). Amazing turn-out and lots of work done! If we hadn't run out of nightlights, we'd have made all the balls we need for the night in one session! (As it was, a small group made the last few dozen on Monday afternoon)

Sunday 16 April at 2pm: Stewards on Calton Hill: more focus exercises, crowd control and so forth..

Wednesday 12 April at 6.30pm: Not Being Hit - part II. Practice with White Women and elements of the Processional Drummers.

Sunday 9 April at 2pm: more focus exercises, crowd control and another practice walkthrough. Walkthrough with Processional Drummers. Also Neidfire demonstration to Blue and Organisers at start of Tech Walkthrough (5pm)

Thursday 6 April, The LGBT Healthy Living Centre, 9 Howe Street: to watch the Beltane 2002 Video.

Sunday 2 April at 2pm (usual place: corner of the Observatory nearest the gun): more focus exercises, crowd control and another practice walkthrough.

Wednesday 29th March, Holyrood Tavern. Voted on facepaint design (the symmetric one won) and took people's details. Found out the Holyrood is closed from 3-17 April.

Sunday 26th March at 2pm on the Hill: we didn't have the joint practice with White Women and Processional Drummers, but we did have Matt from the processionals giving us a neidfire demonstration. We also did a lot more focussed walking, a few name games and did a practice walkthrough on our own.

Wednesday 22nd March Actually on the Hill: This was the first "not being hit" rehearsal with the White Women, and it went fantastically. Well done, and many thanks to everyone!

Sunday 19th March at 2pm (usual place: corner of the Observatory nearest the gun): for torchies and stewards alike to get to know each other, continue the focus stuff and start crowd control exercises.

Saturday 18th March at 1pm, Redhall: Neidfire team - fire was successfully made! Well done to alll involved!

Thursday 16th March: 10pm-3am at The Bongo Club 37 Holyrood Rd, EH8 8BA (map): £5 in (which is a bargain considering you get - and I quote - "Beltane Fire Society presents a fundraising night to celebrate The Spring Equinox. Live Bands: THE SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE, BEASTIE DRUMMERS. DJs playing Balkan Craziness, Psy-Trance plus more. Live Circus performances and massage corner. Ritual Performance at midnight!")

Wednesday 15th March - Guildford Arms, West Register Street, EH2 2AA (map), 7.30 or so
Not just a pub meeting this time: we went up the Hill and walked the processional route in the dark.

Sunday 12th March on the Meadows at 2pm: "for torchies and stewards alike to get to know each other and continue some focus and crowd control exercises". Except this didn't happen due to weather - instead we went and sat in the pub chatting for a while.

Wednesday 8th March in the back room of the Holyrood at 7pm: we took a large pile of blank paper faces and a load of felt pens and came up - eventually - with a shortlist of two possible facepaint designs.

Sunday 5th March on Calton Hill 2pm for torchies and stewards alike to get to know each other and start some focus and crowd control exercises. Oh, and we finished with a stroll round the route before decamping to the pub.

Wednesday 1st March in the back room of the Holyrood 7pm - we mainly talked about stuff: costume, paint, equipment and answering general questions about the role, but we had the 2005 Beltane DVD on in the background.

Sunday 26 February: On Calton Hill.

Present: Steve, Graham, Ciaran, Frazer, Alison, Kiru, Matthew, Helen, Amy, Alex, Greig, Kyly, Leo, Georgeanna, Jane, Stew, Sara, David, Jo, Alan, Phil (apologies from Charlotte and Paul)

What we did: We played fling the owl and walked the hill. People who arrived on time were also rewarded with chocolate, just so you know... This is pretty good going for this stage, but we're still recruiting for both torchies and stewards, so tell your friends.

BFS Beltane Open Meeting and AGM

The Beltane Fire Society Open Meeting & Annual General Meeting was on Sunday 12th February - 5.30pm at Marco's Leisure Centre, 55 Grove Street, Fountainbridge (Map - opens in new window).