THE Aberdour Festival kicks off on Friday 1st August with a packed new programme of cultural talks and big ‘Hot Ticket’ events.

This year’s festival, which runs until Sunday 10th August, has the theme of Bridging The Gap which aims to celebrate and bring together all of the big events taking place in Scotland this year, including everything from the Commonwealth Games to the 50th anniversary of the Forth Road Bridge.

The event aims to bring together the community through a wide range of activities and events.

The festival starts with a bang in the AVD Festival Marquee on Hawkcraig Road with the Great Grand Homecoming Hootenanny. The Coaltown Daises musical group will take centre stage and will be joined by The Second Stages and local guests.

More Hot Ticket events include the Comedy Extravaganza with Gary Delaney and guests on Sunday 3rd August, in association with Mirth of Forth Comedy, and the Fabulous Festival Jazz Night with the Copper Cats, supported by Marty Waugh and his band in association with Fife Jazz Club, on Monday 4th August.

Rocking the festival, the Bon Jovi Experience will be ‘Living on a Prayer’ and performing on Friday 8th August alongside guests Second Stages, Origin sins, Auxygen and Stuntman Mike. Alongside the Hot Ticket events, there will also be a series of talks over the 10 days, which cover a vast variety of topics.

The talks, which also begin on 1st August, plunge straight into the deep end with a talk on ‘madness and mysticism’ by Dr Allan Beveridge, consultant psychiatrist at Queen Margaret Hospital.

Others include talks from Denise Stephani, author of the international award-winning Letters to Mandela; Linda Thomson, from the Women’s Support Project in Glasgow, who will speak about young people in a sexualised Scotland; and a talk about radiology and injuries in World War One by Diana Maxwell.

Tickets to all Hot Ticket events are available for purchase at McTaggart’s Cafe Deli, 21 High Street; The Purple Shop, 59-61 Main Street; and Aberdour Pharmacy, 30 High Street. They are also available online at www.wegottickets.com.