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Updated 10th September, 2000 |
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Updated 10th September, 2000 |
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The first Braveheart
Convention was held in September 1997. |
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| Friday 18th - 'Stirling Day' |
11:00 - 12:30 In today's quieter times, the present hotel
on the site, incorporating the castle building, is a modern 4-star hotel (part of the
Radisson group of hotels). |
Registration took place at the Airth Castle Hotel, between Stirling and Falkirk, where Braveheart 2000 was based. This location has a long association with William Wallace. Blind
Harry's epic poem (the Braveheart of the late 15th century) describes how Wallace
stormed Airth Castle to rescue his uncle who was imprisoned there.
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13:30 - 14:30 |
After lunch at the hotel, we visited Cambuskenneth Abbey.
If William Wallace has a grave site in Scotland, then this is the place. Local legend tells of the monks of the Abbey taking down the arm of William Wallace, which had been on display in Stirling on the orders of Longshanks, and burying it at the spot marked by the stone in the photograph on the left. This stone still shows a carved 'W', which is rapidly being worn away by the elements. With the 695th anniversary of the death of William Wallace due in the coming week, we placed some flowers at the spot.
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14:30 - 15:30 |
We then visited the Smith Museum & Art Gallery in
Stirling, to see the excellent 'The Stirling Story' exhibition. Elspeth King and her staff have made a superb job of collecting and displaying the pieces in the exhibition, with the sections on Wallace's life and legacy being of particular interest to Braveheart 2000 attendees. |
15:30 - 17:00 |
We were fortunate with the weather, and had a visit to the
National Wallace Monument in warm and dry weather. The local tourist board continue to develop the presentation of information at the monument, and deserve our ongoing thanks for continuing to have Tom Church's Wallace statue on display at the car park. |
19:00 - 01:00 |
In the evening on Friday, we had a 'Braveheart
Banquet' at Stirling Castle. This was a great success, and our thanks go to all the
people who worked to hard to make it so enjoyable for everyone i.e.
We have excellent video footage taken during the evening, and we will post stills taken
from the video on these pages when we get a chance. |
| Saturday 19th - 'Wallace Day' |
10:30 - 11:00 When we visited Robroyston, David Ross explained the history of the location and of the monument, including the recent installation of a plaque to mark the monument's 100th anniversary. |
August 2000 saw the 100th anniversary of the dedication of
the Robroyston memorial to William Wallace, at the spot where he was betrayed and
captured. Nearby is 'Wallace's Well' (see below), where he would have had his last drink
of water as a free man.
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11:30 - 13:00 |
Moving on from Robroyston, we visited Paisley Abbey,
where it is believed that young William Wallace was taught by the monks. |
14:00 - 17:00 |
On Saturday afternoon we attended the annual 'Wallace' Day at
Elderslie, the first such day of the new millenium.
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| Most of the Braveheart 2000 attendees joined the
march from Johnstone town centre to the Elderslie Monument marking Wallace's birthplace. There were excellent speeches from Anne Lorne Gillies and Ian Anderson (of BBC radio), and then David Ross introduced James Robinson and Andrew Weir - the 'boys' from 'THE movie'. |
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James and Andrew then laid the Society of William Wallace's wreath at the monument. We had a film crew with us from Paramount pictures in Los Angeles. They were shooting footage which was to be shown during the following week on CNN news and on other USA and Canadian TV networks in the run-up to the August 29th release of the Braveheart DVD. |
| We were also joined by a second film crew who were making a
Discovery Channel show - 'Lonely Planet: Scotland'. The photo on the right shows the
Discovery Channel presenter Megan McCormick talking about William Wallace at the Elderslie
monument. Afterwards we spent some time at the Eldeslie village hall with the Society of William Wallace members, before heading back for the Airth Castle Hotel. |
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18:30 - 20:00 |
William Wallace stormed Airth Castle to rescue his uncle, and
Hugh Robertson and his 'Fire and Sword' group brought those days back again. They were there with their tent, swords, shields, long spears (some 'longer than others') and showed how it was done in the old days. By this time we had three film crews with us, having been joined by an Italian crew making a 'Celtic Caravan' documentary for the 2001 Cannes Television festival. |
Hugh, playing the part of the English commander, insulted the Scottish standard bearer. He also insulted a Scottish peasant, and even made fun of William Wallace himself. Things however didn't end well for Hugh. He 'picked a fight' with the wrong Scotsman.
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| Sunday 20th - 'Braveheart Day' |
11:00 - 13:00
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'Braveheart Day' at the Falkirk
Town Hall started with talks by:
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Artist Andrew Hillhouse produced a beautiful painting entitled 'I belong here' for Braveheart 2000 (see left).
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 This was presented to Marilyn Bannen (wife of the late Ian Bannen, who played The Bruce's father in Braveheart) on behalf of Braveheart fans everywhere in memory of Ian who is sadly missed. |
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Stephen Adair brough along his excellent 'Braveheart
scooter' to Braveheart Day.
Young 'Hamish' and young 'William' are pictured on the scooter on the left. |
Braveheart fan Melanie MacArthur, with her 'In the year of Our Lord ...' tattoo. |
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Stephen and Avril Wilson came all the way from Fraserburgh to Braveheart 2000 with their wonderful Braveheart truck. We have more photo of the truck and will put these on a webpage soon. |
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We had one of the Mel Gibson costumes from the movie on display (see left) and the original of the wedding cloth which Wallace gave to Murron in Braveheart. |
14:00 - 17:00 |
In the afternoon on Braveheart Day
we had a special 5th Anniversary Braveheart showing in the Falkirk Town Hall cinema. John Muragh (who played Lochlan in Braveheart) was kind enough to say a few words about what William Wallace meant to him as a Glaswegian, and paid tribute to the late Ian Bannen, and the way he had helped make it possible for actors to remain Scottish and yet still get major roles in film, theatre and television.
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Thanks to Ric and Marguerite Marsh and their portable DVD player (Region One), we were able to have the world premiere of Braveheart on DVD in Scotland at Braveheart 2000.
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17:00 - 18:00 |
Braveheart 2000 closed at the
Falkirk Town Hall after the movie showing and sadly we all went our separate ways ...
until next time?
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