We celebrate our 21^st birthday this year and feel that our programme shows that we are coming of age as a festival of the arts. Some Festival favourites have remained, such as the Country House events, but we hope that we can also offer something new this year with a broad range of events covering classical, folk and contemporary music, politics, thought, art, drama, literature and film. I could single out individual events, but my own list of favourites would be too long, so instead I invite you to take a look at the programme on the pages that follow.

As we look forward to this year’s programme and beyond, it is important that we acknowledge our debt to the past. A number of the former committee have passed on their responsibilities this year, and I think it is only right that we register our thanks to Neil Macfarlane, Ian Kinniburgh, Marcus Marsh, Eric Sinclair and Lucy Bailey. This year has also seen the sad passing of two Festival stalwarts, pianists Donald Hawksworth and James Reith who have graced us with a number of performances over the years.  They have all contributed to making the Festival what it is today, and we now look to build upon this foundation by investing in the future and creating relationships which will enable us to do this. We are therefore proud to welcome booksellers Yeadons of Elgin and Banchory as our strategic partner. Their knowledge and experience has already made an impact, as I am sure you will see from the programme of events for this year, and we look forward to carrying these benefits into the future. We are also blessed this year to benefit from the generosity of Awards for All Scotland, the Kincardine and Deeside Arts Forum, the Strathdee Music Club and Upper Deeside Arts Society. Thank you. 

However, the most important contribution comes from you, the audience. As a small, independent organisation, we cannot survive without support from the public and we therefore hope that we offer the residents of Aboyne, Deeside and beyond something different, something special, something cultural and something to remember. So, without further ado, let me welcome you once again to the 2012 Aboyne and Deeside Festival. I look forward to meeting you.