The idea for Punk On The Peninsula came when punk front man Iain Kilgallon and family moved back to the West Coast of Scotland, in 2015.  During that summer, the paddle steamer, the Waverley, kept passing by his window and it brought back happy memories of his late father playing jazz onboard the vessel back in the day.

 

That was when it hit him -  he would hire the Waverley, put bands onboard and build a festival around it!  Getting people to Dunoon would be the hard part, but once there the rest would be easy, people would fall in love with the area just as Iain and his family had.

 

After contacting the Waverley, getting the hire price and adding the cost of bands, hotels, sound systems, advertising and everything else, if this venture failed Iain's wife Shannon said "so we actually will have to sell the house if it doesn't work"?

 

However, common sense prevailed and POTP started on a smaller scale.  In 2017, Iain hired a boat that held 250 people, to test the water - it was a huge success with the fantastic Peter & The Test Tube Babies entertaining everyone on board.  In 2018,  he did the same again - An EVEN bigger success.

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In 2019 disaster struck. The vessel hired for the first two occasions was withdrawn from service. After several weeks of frantically searching for a replacement, Iain had to admit defeat. He had to come up with an alternative that would not lower the standards of the previous events.

 

The decision was made to arrange a fleet of coaches to take people to the stunning village of Inverary, at the head of Loch Fyne, for a quick stop to take in the breathtaking scenery, before being bussed the short way to the 17th century Farmhouse which has become a brewery, the fantastic Fyne Ales, nestled at the foot of the mountains in the most stunning location in the middle of nowhere, where people were entertained by the fantastic TV Smith in the courtyard, whilst sampling the local ales.

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In 2020 and 2021, the festival, like so many others, was cancelled due to the Covid-19/Corona Virus pandemic.  But in 2022 the Festival was back and boy it didn't disappoint - an amazing weekend of bands, music, good company and of course a good food and beer.  

 

Likewise, the 2023 and 2024 feedback we received from all festival attendees and bands who have appeared is nothing short of incredible, with so many saying it is their favourite weekend of the year/one of the best events they have ever played, and this means the world to us as we work on this literally all year, behind the scenes.

 

We have had people buy tickets and support the festival from as far away as Australia, the USA, Canada and countries all across Europe, with the list of countries where we send tickets to, growing each and every year.

 

I hope to see you here in 2025, if you can make it, please come up and say hello.

 

Captain K