Cupar’s Year of Stories
Cupar is built on centuries of stories – from its medieval past to the town’s role as a 21st century market town. The coming year is Scotland’s Year of Stories, and we’d like Cupar to play its part in sharing stories … old and new. This Blog launches Cupar’s Year of Stories 2022 and we invite all to get involved …
We have started the ball rolling. In discussions with volunteers at the town’s museum, we asked about the town’s Blue Plaques – and the Heritage Trail guide that has helped to share the plaque locations. The guide – first published in 2005 – was re-printed in 2016. Copies are few and far between, so we offered to digitise the guide and update it for 2022 … and for it to become the first story for our new project.
It is now live online and can be found by clicking the image below …
And now we want to add stories – your stories – to create an archive for Cupar that will help to share tales from the town with our audiences at home and abroad.
Tell us your story …
If you have a tale to tell, we’d love to publish it on our Blog and make it part of the Year of Stories archive.
It might be about your time in Cupar – growing up, being at school or working in the town. If you’ve moved to Cupar, it could be about why you chose the town. This project is – in part – inspired by one family who shared their story with us on why they chose Cupar as their home.
It could be about a particular building in the town and your association with it … a shop or cafe, a pub or church.
Perhaps you’d like to write a story about your hobby or pastime in Cupar? You membership of a club or society – and their work in the community?
If you know any local tales, then those would be great too … a yarn passed down through the generations that we could share.
You might want to write a story that’s inspired by Cupar’s landscape and wildlife … the rivers that shape the town, the local farmland, the places you discover on walks and rides?
CuparNow is, in itself, a story. We are the UK & Scotland’s only digital improvement district and – since our earliest days in 2018 – we have built a combined digital audience that now tops 50,000. The vast majority of these live and work in a drive-time distance of Cupar, but we’re very proud that this blog site has readers in every time zone around the world (below) … and we hope some of you will submit your stories about Cupar too!
We will be publishing more as the weeks and months go by: some stories will appear on this Blog – and we will share links through our social media channels and e-shots. Other, we hope, will appear on our Podcast that we launched in 2021. We have a dozen episodes live – and more planned – so click on the image below to have a listen, and please follow our podcast and share with family, friends and colleagues who might be interested. Thank you!
Need more?
Themed Years showcase the very best of Scotland – the country’s products, places and people. Each comes with a packed programme of events and activities and provided lots of opportunities to get involved, whether you’re a resident, visitor, business or organisation.
The overall project – run by VisitScotland – will “spotlight, celebrate and promote the wealth of stories inspired by, written, or created in Scotland“. It will encourage locals and visitors to experience “a diversity of voices, take part in events and explore the places, people and cultures connected to all forms of our stories, past and present“.
It is hoped that “Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022 will contribute to recovery from the pandemic and inspire new stories of Scotland to be shared“.
Year of Stories 2022: here’s what they say …
The year is designed to be inclusive and diverse, embracing the widest range of activity and content. Partner’s activity can reflect one or all of the five programme strands:
Iconic stories and storytellers: across literature, screen and entertainment, the Year of Stories will celebrate and showcase Scotland’s wealth of treasured and iconic stories and storytellers from classics to contemporary.
- New stories: we want to shout about Scotland’s new and untold stories. The Year of Stories will shine a light on emerging, fresh and forward-looking talent and highlight the innovators that break boundaries across all forms of storytelling.
- Scotland’s people and places: our people and places have inspired the widest range of stories and storytellers across the world. The year will promote how Scotland’s diverse culture, languages, landscapes and ways of life – urban and rural – provide a source for all types and forms of stories, encouraging visitors and audiences to find out more.
- Local tales and legends: every community has its distinct tales to tell; stories of now as well as those passed through the generations. These are the stories we tell ourselves and share with others to make sense of time and place. The Year of Stories will provide the opportunity for every part of Scotland to tell its story.
- Inspired by nature: our encounters with nature are an unfailing source of stories old and new. Whether by the sea or land, along rivers or through woods, in city or country, we discover stories of birds, insects, animals and plants. These stories define our place in the natural world and help to create a more sustainable future for Scotland, as well as a greener planet.
Thanks for reading!
