Join us and become a Knockengorroch Friend or a Knockengorroch Doonhame Friend!
As a Doonhame Friend, enjoy up to four days at our longhouse summer camp directly preceding The Hairth.

FRIENDS OF KNOCKENGORROCH & THE LONG HOUSE SUMMER CAMP

Knockengorroch CIC runs two festivals a year, in May and September. The events ‘book-end’ the summer - one taking place before the midges begin and the other just as the final few have departed. Since 1998 when held our first festival one midsummer’s eve our motives at Knockengorroch have always been to spread appreciation of ‘world’ and ‘celtic’ music, nurture appreciation of the land and SW Scotland, regenerate the community and repopulate a once densely populated glen with folk again.

The festivals last three to four days and welcome nearly 3000 performers, crew, traders and festival goers to the valley. Most people camp at the festivals but there are B&B facilities a short drive away for those who prefer. Although primarily music performance, the festivals also feature dance and other visual and performance arts with opportunities to get involved in workshops in music making, arts, dance and craftsman’s skills such as dry stane dyking, stone carving, willow wattling and other skills which are less and less practised as an urban industrial lifestyle swallows more of the country.

Open to all ages and persuasions, Knockengorroch festivals are community festivals, which do not exclude or favour any age or social group. The only pre-requisites to be a ‘Knockengorrocher’ is to enjoy the outdoors, great music under the stars, and a good party! We aim for friendly, good natured, un-pretentious and un-censored festivals, where the community takes responsibility for themselves and looks out for others, creativity flourishes and the relaxed surroundings bring out the best in everyone.

Where the festivals now congregate, was once a populated glen, where stood whole villages of communities. The festivals stand to remind us of our heritage, and of the importance the land and community once played and undoubtedly will play again in our lives. We hope that for the three or four days that people stay at Knockengorroch the piece of earth that has become a part of our family represents the land that everyone is a part of. A small but significant step towards recognising our relationship with the planet, Knockengorroch brings the music to the hills and the people to the land!

As with many small community ventures getting to where we are today has required a huge amount of energy, dedication, passion and plain hard and unceasing work by the family, friends and volunteers. Knockengorroch still exists not only due to this but also, vitally, through the continued involvement and support from all who have visited the festival. This support is the most important of all and we hope that people will continue to visit from Scotland and all across the world to enjoy the festivals.

For those who wish to contribute further to the future of the festivals you can now lend your support and become a ‘Friend’ in more ways, helping to raise money for ongoing projects such as finishing the incomplete Longhouse venue, environmentally desirable site improvements, including a proposed renewable power generating system in the Longhouse, providing better eco-friendly conditions for visitors and ensuring that Knockengorroch Festivals can continue to develop in an ecologically sustainable way.

Over the years we have succeeded in bringing great music and great people from near and far and breathing new life into this beautiful rural area of Scotland! Your contribution would be greatly valued and highly significant in helping us to continue this work!

Knockengorroch Community Interest Company (CIC) was set up in 2006 (before that it was a non-profit making association). Community Interest Companies are social enterprises that exist for the public good and distribute any profits
for the community’s interest (as judged by a CIC regulator).

Friend
As a Friend you will enjoy special benefits:
Your name will be listed as a Friend in the festivals’ printed programmes
You will receive 10% off all merchandise in the festival shop at the festivals.
You will receive a complimentary programme at both festivals.
You will know that your contribution is going towards both the sustainability and quality of Knockengorroch Festivals both now and for years to come.

Doonhame Friend
As a ‘Doonhame’ friend you will receive all the above benefits and in addition you’ll be invited to come and join us on the bonny banks of Water of Deugh at the Longhouse Summer Camp in September. During five days of Knockengorroch hospitality before the Hairth Festival begins, the Longhouse doors will be open only to our guests, performers and of course ‘Doonhame Friends’*
Intimate acoustic sessions and performance will take place each evening in this atmospheric venue. During the day you will be able to take the opportunity to explore the many delights of the surrounding area – mottes, castles, lochs, coastal villages, the Stewartry’s market town of Castle Douglas, Carsphairn Heritage Centre – the list is endless. You could go fishing in the river ‘Deugh’, or climb ‘Dodd Hill’ or even ‘Cairnsmore’ of Carsphairn, Southern Scotland’s second highest mount where, on a clear day you can see across to Edinburgh and even the coast of Ireland! There are many walks in the Carsphairn hills, some easy and some more challenging.
Please contact us beforehand for more details on any of these activities. Simon Holmes, Knockengorroch resident founder of the festivals, will also be available on site to advise on places to see and visit!

*We can offer absolutely no early entry to the Hairth for anyone other than `Doonhame Friends’

As we would like to be able to offer all ‘Knockengorrochers’ the opportunity to become friends the minimum donation is only £15, please feel free to donate any amount above this. If you donate £50 or more a year we welcome you as a ‘Doonhame’ friend and will be able to invite you to our summer camp, which will precede The Hairth in September.