Before oil was first pumped ashore from "The Forties" field in 1975, northern Scotland and the Shetland and Orkney Islands relied heavily on fishing and farming - traditional ways of life that were already economically struggling.

The oil boom brought new jobs, new money, new opportunities, and oil workers from around the world. It also brought new challenges to local culture, as the lives of thousands of Scots in previously remote northern coastal towns and islands were daily affected by the demands and the economic ups and downs of the oil industry. Scotland's oil and gas fields are expected to produce oil well into the 21st century.

—In collaboration with oral historians Hugo Manson and Terry Brotherstone of The Oil Lives Research Project at the University of Aberdeen, we have invited off-shore oil workers Dennis Krahn, Alexa Reid, and Bob Ballantyne to attend the Festival to talk about their lives and experiences on the North Sea rigs. The display will feature models of off-shore oil rigs and examples of specialized tools to give visitors a sense of what life is like for Scottish oil-field workers and the impact of the industry on the culture of North East Scotland.