Go Forth Stirling Backs Bloody Scotland Festival

Go Forth Stirling is proud to be a main sponsor of this year’s Bloody Scotland international crime writing festival being held at venues across the city in September.

The Festival takes place in a variety of well-known Stirling locations, including the Sheriff Court, Albert Halls, the Tolbooth, Church of the Holy Rude and the Golden Lion Hotel, and features a host of acclaimed crime writers.

Running over the weekend of September 20 to 22, Bloody Scotland provides a showcase for the best authors in Scotland and further afield including Chris Brookmyre, Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Lisa Jewell and Alexander McCall Smith.

There is also the chance to hear about the life and works of one of the world’s favourite thriller writers – bestselling American novelist David Baldacci.

The 2019 Festival programme was launched at Stirling’s Golden Lion Hotel on Monday June 3.

The programme features a full-page advert from Go Forth Stirling welcoming festival visitors to the city and highlighting the heritage, culture, shops and food and drink experiences Stirling has to offer.

Meanwhile, the city’s Landtrain was a major highlight of the launch with well-known Scottish authors, including Val McDermid, jumping on board to pose for photos and take selfies.

The Go Forth Landtrain will feature the Bloody Scotland logo and branding to promote the Festival during the run up to September.

Go Forth Manager Mags Fenner sees the partnership with Bloody Scotland as a great opportunity to promote Stirling and its businesses.

It will give the BID team the chance to get their message out directly to festival-goers and let them know about everything there is to do, see and experience in Stirling.

She said: “Go Forth Stirling are thrilled to be working with Bloody Scotland and are proud that Bloody Scotland has its home in Stirling.

“The Festival has become one of the highlights of the city’s summer calendar and we’re looking forward to working with city centre traders to welcome visitors to the 2019 festival and enable them to make the most of their stay in our amazing city.

“We’ll be inspiring people to explore a little of our history and heritage and to experience some of our excellent retail and dining.

“And we’ll be making sure they realise that Stirling is a great place to come back and visit once the Festival is over too.”

Ms Fenner and the team hope local business owners will make the most of the Festival weekend – perhaps coming up with inventive food and drink menus which tie-in with the crime writing theme or offering discounts to festival-goers.

Meanwhile, the organisers of Bloody Scotland have welcomed the support from Go Forth Stirling.

Festival Director Bob McDevitt said: “We\’re extremely excited to be working with Go Forth Stirling this year to further the festival\’s links with the wider business community in Stirling and to integrate the festival ever more into the fabric of the city.

“We\’re looking forward to a fruitful partnership!\”

Tickets for the 2019 Festival are now on sale via www.Bloodyscotland.com and at the Box Offices at both The Tolbooth and The Albert Halls.