THE countdown to the Haddington Festival is nearly over, with the annual event ready to toast 50 years.

Jan Wilson, chairwoman of Haddington and District Community Council and Haddington Events Group, thanked everyone for their help and was looking forward to the annual event, which officially starts tomorrow (Friday).

She said: “It seems remarkable that it is 50 years since the very first Haddington Festival.

“Over the years the programme has grown with many varied types of events we hope will suit everyone.

“It is not easy to run a festival, having to come up with fresh ideas every year whilst retaining some of the old favourites.

“I am proud and privileged to work with a group that is dedicated to the task in hand and to the amount of work put in over the year to run not just the festival but all the events, including the fireworks evening, the Christmas lights and the Santa Sleigh Run to name but a few.

“The theme for this year’s festival is ‘50 years of Haddington Festival’.”

Here’s a rundown of what’s on offer over the course of this special 50th-anniversary festival:

Friday, May 25

7-30pm-12.30am – Corn Exchange: Haddington Pipe Band Scots Night. Tickets are £12 or £10 concession. Under-16s must be accompanied by an adult. Bring your own food and drink. Tickets from Joe Forte, David Leckie 07952 327664 or Liz McDougall 01620 823974.

Saturday, May 26

9am-1pm – Court Street: Farmers’ Market. Purchase locally-produced food. Held on the last Saturday of every month.

10am-noon – Corn Exchange: Coffee morning and plant sale. A chance to buy plants. Coffee, tea and home baking also on sale, plus a raffle. Organised by Haddington Gardening Club.

10am-2pm – Amisfield Walled Garden: Open Week. Open for visitors. Tours of the A-listed garden available. Plants for sale. Refreshments available.

Sunday, May 27

1.45pm – Court Street: Parade of Organisations. All organisations are invited to participate in the parade to the war memorial. The parade will be under the direction of Callum Colquhoun and led by Haddington Pipe Band. The burgh flag will be carried by Steven Gibson, lead volunteer for Haddington Christmas Lights.

2pm – War Memorial: Wreath Laying Ceremony. St Mary’s minister will conduct the festival service. Wreath-laying by one of the community councillors with the wreath donated by Sweetpeas.

2.15pm – St Mary’s Parish Church: Service to mark the official opening of the 2018 festival. A reading will be given by Pat Buchanan, who will be opening this year’s festival.

7-9pm – Haddington Town House: Oxfam Fashion Show. Back by popular demand at Haddington Town House. See some well-known faces strut their stuff on the Town House catwalk in clothes donated from casual wear to wedding gifts. All proceeds go to the emergency relief fund. Tickets available from Oxfam Haddington, £5.

Monday, May 28

10am-2pm – Corn Exchange: Festival Cafe. Run by King’s Meadow Primary School.

10am-2pm – Amisfield Walled Garden: Open Week. Open for visitors. Tours of the A-listed garden available. Plants for sale. Refreshments available.

6-8.30pm – Corn Exchange: Pet show. Doors open at 5.30pm, entrance £1 for adults, 50p per child and 50p per pet. Various category prizes up for grabs. Judging of reptiles and small animals 6pm. Judging of cats 6.30pm. Judging of dogs 7pm. Do not bring your dogs until after 6.30pm.

7.30-8.45pm – St Mary’s Parish Church: Garleton Singers. Music from stage and screen. Tickets £12/£8, students £3.

Tuesday, May 29

10am-noon – Community Arts Hub: MADE in East Lothian.

10am-2pm – Corn Exchange: Festival Cafe. Run by St Mary’s Playgroup.

10am-2pm – Haddington Town House: Coffee morning and raffle. Organised by Haddington and District Probus Club. Tickets £2.50 from Probus club members and festival desk.

10am-2pm – Amisfield Walled Garden: Open Week. Open for visitors. Tours of the A-listed garden available. Plants for sale. Refreshments available.

2-4pm – Community Arts Hub: Printmaking taster session. Make some prints to take away. £5 entry, includes materials and refreshments.

6.30-9pm – Haddington Bowling Club: Bingo night. Eyes down for a night of bingo fun. First game at 7.30pm. Bingo caller is Greta Kornhammer.

Wednesday, May 30

10am-noon – Community Arts Hub: MADE in East Lothian. Knit and natter coffee morning. Try out some knitting/crocheting and enjoy some home-baking. £3 entry.

10am-2pm – Amisfield Walled Garden: Open Week. Open for visitors. Tours of the A-listed garden available. Plants for sale. Refreshments available.

10am-2pm – Corn Exchange: Festival Cafe. Organised by Girlguiding Haddington. Have a little lunch, coffee and browse the sale tables. All proceeds go to Girlguiding Haddington.

6-9pm – Nungate Bridge: Haddington Events Group River Tyne Pirates and Princesses Night. Fun-filled dress up evening with toy boat race, sports, food, ice-cream, inflatable slides, face-painting and attractions. Come as a pirate or a princess. Prizes for the best princess and best pirate.

7pm – Waterloo Bridge: Float your boat. Toy boat race starting at The Lade at Ball Alley with the finish at Nungate Bridge at 8pm. Buy your toy boats £1 from festival desk or stall on the night. First place: £50; second place: £25; third place £15.

7.15pm – Nungate Bridge: Tug of war. Free for all ages. Boys v girls, dads v mums, pubs v clubs.

7.45pm – Nungate Bride: Children’s races. A light-hearted piece of fun competition for all ages.

8pm – Nungate Bridge: Float your boat finish line. Finale of the float your boat race. Find out if you are the winner.

7-8.30pm – Trinity Centre: A tribute to George Angus. George created a photographic collection of colour slides of Haddington from the 1950s onwards. This tribute will show digitised copies of slides from George’s collection. Some of the older residents of Haddington will remember George held his ‘Old and New’ slideshows during previous festivals, so see these images, and more, all recreated in digital form. Doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets £3, available from Betty’s Sweet Shop on High Street. All profits go to Haddington Community Council Events Group.

7-9pm – Lady Kitty’s Garden: Petanque. Haddington Twinning Association welcomes everyone to a ‘small corner of France’ for the evening. Try a game of petanque, help if required with the rules and how to play. Boules provided or bring your own. Admission free.

Thursday, May 31

10am-noon – Community Arts Hub: MADE in East Lothian.

10am-2pm – Amisfield Walled Garden: Open Week. Open for visitors. Tours of the A-listed garden available. Plants for sale. Refreshments available.

10am-2pm – Corn Exchange: Festival Cafe. Support St Mary’s RC Primary School. Have a little lunch, coffee and browse the sale tables.

6.30-10pm – Haddington Town House: Loose Lips. Haddington Events Group presents Loose Lips evening. Ladies only, entry £5. Cheese and wine reception, Q&A. Speakers Celia Hodson, Jacqui Burke, Tabitha Rayne, Dawn Thomson and Rhona Hartley. In support of Hey Girls! charity and sponsored by Mazzoli at the Tyneside Tavern.

Friday, June 1

10am-2pm – Amisfield Walled Garden: Open Week. Open for visitors. Tours of the A-listed garden available. Plants for sale. Refreshments available.

10am-2pm – Corn Exchange: Festival Cafe. Support St Mary’s Playgroup. Have a little lunch, coffee and browse the sale tables.

7-8.30pm – Trinity Centre: Lost Haddington. See Haddington through the years and festivals of old. This is the first Lost Haddington presentation in large-screen format. See some of the images amassed over the years – some old, some new. With this being the 50th anniversary of the Haddington Festival, there is emphasis on showing images of previous festivals and video too, including some from the very first festival held in 1968. Tickets £3 are available from Betty’s Sweet Shop on High Street. All profits go to Haddington Community Council Events Group.

7.30-10.30pm – Corn Exchange: Scottish Country Dance. Run by Haddington SCDC and Boggs SCDC dancing to Graeme Munro’s Scottish Country Dance Band. A new jig has been written, Haddington 700, which will be danced for the first time. Tea and biscuits included.

8pm – Haddington Rugby Club: Bob Mitchell’s Festival Quiz. In its 27th year, Bob Mitchell’s quiz is one of the busiest nights of the week. Entries £5 per team to festival box office or Bob Mitchell 01620 822029.

Saturday, June 2

10am-2pm – Amisfield Walled Garden: Open Week. Open for visitors. Tours of the A-listed garden available. Plants for sale. Refreshments available.

Noon-5pm – Aubigny Sports Centre: U18s (boys and girls) Hockey 7s. Organised by Haddington Ladies Hockey Club. Teams should be mixed boys and girls. It costs £35 to enter a team, with squads of up to 14 players. There must be at least three girls on the pitch from each team at all times. Spectators free, cake and raffle stall and barbecue available.

Noon – Whittingehame Drive: Festival Fun Day fancy dress judging and prizegiving. Judging is on the grass verge on the north side of Whittingehame Drive and starts at noon sharp. Prizes for best-dressed individuals, best-dressed groups and best-dressed method of transport in the categories of 0-3 years, 3-7 years, 7-14 years, 14+ and adults.

12.30pm – Whittingehame Drive: Festival Fun Day fancy dress parade. Led by Haddington Pipe Band, starting at Whittingehame Drive and going through Hardgate, High Street, Court Street, Hope Park, Lydgait, down past Tesco, Market Street, turn right onto Hardgate, past the Maitlandfield House Hotel, along Mill Wynd and into Neilson Park.

12.30-4pm – Neilson Park: Festival Fun Day. As well as an array of local music talent taking to the outdoor stage, there is an opportunity to have a practice at The Slosh, with an unofficial world record attempt during Haddstock on June 16. This is an opportunity to dust off your dancing shoes and give it a go. Elsewhere there is a selection of funfair rides for all the family, noon to 4pm. Stalls from local groups provide items to win, browse and buy. There is face-painting by Jackie Jack, plus Owl Magic, the largest travelling owl display team in Scotland – aerial display held at 3pm (weather-dependent). There is a teddy bears’ picnic, organised by St Mary’s Playgroup. Edinburgh and Lothian Mini Owners Club display a collection of cars from classics to future classics. Try your luck on the bottle stall. Tea in the Park is organised by Haddington Events Group – relax with a cup of coffee and home-baking and watch all the activities around the park. There is also Sports Hub, a chance to try various demo sports. Also on-site is Bridge Centre music project stage, where an array of local talent from the Bridge Centre Music Project perform throughout the day. Children’s races take place at 2.30pm. Music is also provided by a brass band at 1.30pm and 3pm and samba band at 2.30pm and 3.15pm.

3pm – Neilson Park: Haddington Running Club Festival 5k and 10k Road Races. The route starts in Neilson Park and continues on country B-class roads. 10k entry £12/£14, 5k entry £6/£8. More information at haddingtonrunning.club

Sunday, June 3

7pm – St Mary’s Parish Church: Siancio Singers. The Haddington-based group welcome for the first time The Capital City Minstrels from New Delhi, India, for a joint concert of Indian, Scottish and world music. Tickets £10 (under-16s free) and available from Gibson’s, Joe Forte Sports, The Malt Kiln, choir members and on the door on the night.

Weeklong events

Haddington Events Group: Festival Shop Window Competition. Try and spot the wrong item in the shop window and win a book token. Sheets from festival table or Betty’s.