Darvel Music Company marks 25 years of live music

A volunteer-run music promoter in Darvel has spent 2026 celebrating a quarter of a century of bringing live music to the Irvine Valley.

Darvel Music Company has staged concerts and festivals at Darvel Town Hall on West Main Street for 25 years. The hall has also been home to the Darvel Music Festival for more than two decades. Over that time the small Ayrshire town has become a regular stop for some of Scotland's best-known performers, with Eddi Reader among the artists to have appeared at the festival.

The anniversary celebrations peaked on Friday 21 August, when Skerryvore returned to the town hall. The band, three-time winners of Scotland's Live Act of the Year award, first played Darvel in 2011. The organisers describe them as an integral part of the company's story.

Since that first visit, Skerryvore's blend of traditional Scottish music with rock and pop has taken them to audiences across Europe, North America and Australia. Their 2023 album Tempus topped both the Scottish album chart and the UK folk albums chart.

Local businesses from across the valley backed the anniversary night by donating raffle prizes. They included Darvel's Black Bull Inn, Spellbound Cafe and Co-op, Meat To You at Quarterhouse Farm, and Thistle Du Florist in Galston.

The company continues to rely on ticket sales, raffles, sponsorship and public donations to keep its programme going. It hopes to carry on bringing quality live music to Darvel for many years to come.