Scottish Banner

To mark the 750^th anniversary of Robert the Bruce’s birth, a new 3D model, produced from a cast of his skull,  displayed to the public for the first time at Dunfermline Abbey. The 3D reconstruction is the most realistic likeness of Robert the Bruce to be produced to date, and was created as part of a collaboration between the University of Glasgow and Liverpool John Moores University Face Lab, which released the digital model a few years ago. Dr Martin McGregor, Senior Lecturer in History at University of Glasgow, first conceived of the model after the discovery of King Richard III of England’s skeleton in Leicester in 2012.

The model was produced using a combination of historical research and scientific analysis with advances in facial reconstruction techniques. The team used a 3D laser scanner to scan the cast of Robert the Bruce’s skull held at the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum, which allowed the team to accurately establish the muscle formation from the positions of the skull bones.

Using CGI technology, realistically textured skin was then layered over the muscle structure. The nose is the least accurate feature of this facial depiction due to the bone deterioration. Historians have long debated whether Robert the Bruce suffered from leprosy. The team created two versions of the digital reconstruction, one without leprosy and one with a mild representation of leprosy. For the 3D physical model, only the version showing no visible signs of leprosy was portrayed.

Scotland’s greatest monarch

Dr Martin MacGregor, Senior Lecturer in History at University of Glasgow, said: “In a lifetime of only 55 years, Robert Bruce achieved the impossible and restored peace and freedom to a war-torn and colonised kingdom. Contemporary sources tell us much about his remarkable life, but virtually nothing about his appearance. This is what persuaded a team of historians, museum curators, geneticists, forensic scientists and medical artists to combine to create a new 3D depiction of the head of the hero-king, based upon the skull-cast taken from a skeleton in a tomb discovered within the ruins of Dunfermline Abbey in 1818. The head is dressed in a helmet surmounted by a crown, as worn by Bruce at his most famous victory, the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. 750 years after his birth in 1274, it is fitting that Dunfermline Abbey, where Robert Bruce was buried in 1329, should host an exhibition which brings us face-to-face with Scotland’s greatest monarch.”

Alasdair Campbell, Interpretation Officer at Historic Environment Scotland (HES), said: “We are delighted to host the most accurate model of Robert the Bruce’s face to date. Robert the Bruce’s story is an important part of Dunfermline Abbey, and we are excited for visitors to be able to visualise this story in a new way, particularly as we celebrate his 750^th birthday.”

The model will be on show to the public for the first time at Dunfermline Abbey until Saturday 7 December. To learn more and book your tickets, please visit the Historic Environment Scotland website. Other events are also taking place across Historic Environment Scotland to celebrate Robert the Bruce’s 750^th anniversary. A full list can be found at www.historicenvironment.scot/bruce. To find out more about the history of Bruce’s likeness and the leprosy debate, visit www.hes.scot/bruce-faces.

 

Join the City of Armadale to celebrate all things Scottish at the largest Highland Gathering event held in Western Australia that has people saying things like… “It’s different, the vibe is amazing, dogs are super cute, people are amazing and friendly to chat with, it’s a very unique event that really highlights a true highland gathering.” Also: “This event made a great day out for the family. I got to experience home away from home for a day! Such a connected and community vibe felt through the whole event. 10/10 would recommend and I will be back joining in again next year!”

And finally, “Come along for a fantastic day of fun with family and friends. The Armadale Highland Gathering is one of Perth’s best kept secrets for a wonderful immersion in all things Scottish.”

Variety of Scottish delights

The morning of Sunday 6 October begins with the fun and quirky Perth Kilt Run, the biggest and only fun run in Australia that’s done in a kilt! Run, walk or wheel the 2.5km Classic or 5km Warrior course, and for the first time… dogs are officially invited to participate in the Perth Kilt Run for 2024 (2.5km Classic course only.) BYO kilt or purchase one with registration – it’s a charity fun run with a difference and you’re guaranteed to have a good time. As you’d expect… the excitement doesn’t stop there.

Following the Perth Kilt Run, we roll straight into the Highland Gathering where you’ll have the rest of the day to experience Highland dancing, pipe bands and heavy event competitions, meet and greet Scottish dogs, explore Clan histories, watch friendly battles between the medieval groups in the arena, revel in live music, test your taste buds with the variety of Scottish delights, and lots more!  This is a family friendly and smoke/vape free event hosted by the City of Armadale at Champion Lakes Regatta Centre.

Further details are available at: www.perthkiltrun.com.au.

 

It is one of the most staggering discoveries in recent archaeological history; one which could change the whole perception of where real power existed in Britain thousands of years ago. Archaeologists have long known that some of the stones at Stonehenge came from Wales and were transported about 125 miles to the site of the Neolithic monument on Salisbury Plain.

But a “jaw-dropping” study has revealed that one of Stonehenge’s central megaliths, weighing six tonnes, is 100% Scottish and must have been conveyed as far as 500-700 miles to the world heritage site which is as familiar to tourists as it is to Druids and fans of the film This is Spinal Tap.

The Altar Stone

The new analysis found that the largest “bluestone” at Stonehenge was brought to the site from the north-east corner of Scotland – and scientists have admitted that the revelation could signify that Orkney was one of the most important centres in ancient British history. The megalith, which is known as the “altar stone”, was transported by our ancestors from at least as far as Inverness, and potentially from Orkney, but nobody yet knows how this was orchestrated. However, Rob Ixer, an honorary senior research fellow at University College London and one of the experts behind the study, which was published in Nature, said: “This doesn’t just alter what we think about Stonehenge, it alters what we think about the whole of the late Neolithic period. It completely rewrites the relationships between the Neolithic populations of the whole of the British Isles. The science is beautiful and it’s going to be discussed for decades. It is jaw-dropping.”

The Altar Stone, which is classed as a non-local bluestone, was long thought to have been transported to the site from somewhere in Wales. That belief was reinforced because a separate group of Stonehenge’s bluestones are now known to have been quarried in Pembrokeshire. But that theory has been comprehensively demolished. The study, involving experts from Curtin University in Perth, Australia; Adelaide University; Aberystwyth University; and UCL, originally aimed to examine the stone’s chemical composition and the age of the minerals within it. But nobody was prepared for this outcome.

Completely unexpected

Nick Pearce, a professor of geography and earth sciences at Aberystwyth who is another of the report’s co-authors, said: “With that age fingerprint, you can match it to the same sort of rocks around the UK – and the match for the age fingerprint was a dead ringer for the Orcadian Basin in north-east Scotland. It was completely unexpected.” Although identifying the exact site will take further work, the scientists have narrowed the potential source area to encompass Orkney; a triangle of land around John O’Groats in Caithness; or a narrow coastal strip stretching south as far as the Moray Firth around Inverness and east to Elgin.

The finding may be astonishing, but the science is not controversial, according to Mr Pearce. He added: “This is very, very well-established science. It’s not something people can look at and say: ‘That can’t be right. The odds of the stone coming from elsewhere are “fractions of a percent”.

Nobody has yet figured out how the large rock was ferried – either over land or by sea – from the far north of Scotland to Wiltshire. But Skara Brae on Orkney is older than the Pyramids and demonstrates that people there knew how to build fortified, weather-proof shelters. They were also masters of creating standing stones and such features permeate Orkney.

Perhaps, we’ll learn in the future that their workers dragged the material down to Stonehenge – or should that be Stanehenge? – with an efficiency and precision it’s still hard to believe.

Text by Neil Drysdale.

Main photo: Stonehenge. Photo: John Nail.

**Further research has been released since this article was released which will feature in the October 2024 edition of the Scottish Banner.

 

 

Stonehenge’s Altar Stone origins reveal advanced ancient Britain

The new research led by Curtin University has revealed the findings point to the existence of unexpectedly advanced transport methods and societal organisation at the time of the stone’s arrival at its current location in southern England about 5,000 years ago. Curtin researchers studied the age and chemistry of mineral grains within fragments of the Altar Stone, which is a 50cm thick sandstone block measuring 5 x 1 metres, that sits at the centre of Stonehenge’s iconic stone circle in Wiltshire. Lead author PhD student Anthony Clarke from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said analysis of the age and chemical composition of minerals within fragments of the Altar Stone matched it with rocks from northeast Scotland, while also clearly differentiating them from Welsh bedrock.

“Our analysis found specific mineral grains in the Altar Stone are mostly between 1000 to 2000 million years old, while other minerals are around 450 million years old,” Mr Clarke said. “This provides a distinct chemical fingerprint suggesting the stone came from rocks in the Orcadian Basin, Scotland, at least 750 kilometres away from Stonehenge. Given its Scottish origins, the findings raise fascinating questions, considering the technological constraints of the Neolithic era, as to how such a massive stone was transported over vast distances around 2600 BC. This discovery also holds personal significance for me. I grew up in the Mynydd Preseli, Wales, where some of Stonehenge’s stones came from. I first visited Stonehenge when I was one year old and now at 25, I returned from Australia to help make this scientific discovery – you could say I’ve come full circle at the stone circle.”

Study co-author Professor Chris Kirkland, also from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group at Curtin, said the findings had significant implications for understanding ancient communities, their connections, and their transportation methods. “Our discovery of the Altar Stone’s origins highlights a significant level of societal coordination during the Neolithic period and helps paint a fascinating picture of prehistoric Britain,” Professor Kirkland said. “Transporting such massive cargo overland from Scotland to southern England would have been extremely challenging, indicating a likely marine shipping route along the coast of Britain. This implies long-distance trade networks and a higher level of societal organisation than is widely understood to have existed during the Neolithic period in Britain.”

In the halls of Bannockburn House, a Grade A listed historic Scottish landmark, a team of dedicated volunteers have uncovered a rare and fascinating piece of history that could have altered the story of the nation. Amidst the delicate plaster work and ancient wooden panelling, a musket ball hole has been discovered – a grim reminder of a previously undocumented assassination attempt of the legendary Bonnie Prince Charlie during the tumultuous Jacobite Rising of 1745. The announcement comes on the 279^th anniversary of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s arrival on Scottish soil to try to regain the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on behalf of his father, James Stuart.

Bannockburn House

But in January 1746, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, much better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, took ill and convalesced at Bannockburn House. The large bedroom where he stayed, situated on the first floor’s west wing, is adorned with a delicate plaster frieze of mermaids and has multiple layers of ancient wooden panelling, some of which are hand hewn and painted. The Prince stayed at Bannockburn House at the behest of Sir Hugh Paterson, 3^rd Baronet of Bannockburn, when the Jacobite army laid siege of Stirling Castle. During his time there, the Prince also met Sir Hugh’s niece, Clementina Walkinshaw, who nursed him back to health. A romance bloomed between the pair which carried on for many years after the Rising and they had a daughter, Charlotte, Duchess of Albany. It was also during this time, according to the house’s oral traditions, that an assassin fired a shot through the bedroom window, missing Bonnie Prince Charlie as he slept and lodged itself in the wall at the head of the bed. For centuries, the existence of this musket ball hole remained a tantalising legend passed down through the generations, its whereabouts shrouded in mystery, until now.

In April 2024, the hole was found under a secret panel by volunteer researchers on the House’s History Team. The team was aided by leading Jacobite historian Professor Murray Pittock of the University of Glasgow, and Stirling Council Archaeologist, Dr Murray Cook, who both confirmed the authenticity of the find. The Trust volunteers had been searching for the hole but had nothing to go on. Then volunteers arranged a visit with an 89-year-old Edinburgh resident, whose aunt was housekeeper for the last owner in residence, who provided the crucial lead. He told History Team Lead, Anne Monaghan and fellow history volunteer Anna Morrison that his aunt had taken great pride in looking after the bullet hole. As soon as they arrived back in Stirling, they contacted Catherine Bradley, lead volunteer researcher for the charity, who met them the next day to investigate the room.

Forensic evidence of an assassination attempt

“Anne and I noticed what appeared to be the edge of an inset panel in the wall when cleaning out the room furniture recently for conservation. I suspected that is where it may have been. It is across from a window, now hidden by panelling later put in the room sometime in the 1880s. I just didn’t have the evidence to look until now. It was an exciting moment as I opened it. I carefully lifted the panel and saw the splintered wood and I knew we’d found something very special,” Catherine said. She continued: “Anne asked me what I saw, and I remember giggling and saying, wonderful things! I knew we needed to be very careful not to damage it, so we documented it, covered it back up, and called in the cavalry.”

The volunteers quickly contacted Professor Pittock and Dr Cook for help. Dr Cook said: “I have visited the bedroom many times over the years and always tried to imagine the Prince and the resulting confusion from the musket fire and sounds of smashing glass alerting everyone to the assassin. However, to see the damage and to touch the spot sent a thrill down my spine – an incredible tangible experience and worth visiting Bannockburn House for this alone.”

Leading historian Professor Pittock, author of Culloden, The Myth of the Jacobite Clans, Jacobitism and many other works, said: “I am pleased to endorse that Bannockburn House Trust has almost certainly discovered forensic evidence of an assassination attempt on Prince Charles in 1746. This is critically important not only for our understanding of the Rising but also for the role the attack may have played in intensifying the relationship between Charles and Clementina Walkinshaw, which led to the birth of his only child.”

One of the most tumultuous episodes in Scottish and British history

Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Chris Kane said: “In the year of Stirling’s 900^th anniversary celebrations, it’s remarkable that we’re still unearthing new discoveries about the area’s rich past – but this one is particularly exciting. This astonishing find at Bannockburn House sheds new light on the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie and one of the most tumultuous episodes in Scottish and British history. We are proud that Stirling is at the heart of the nation’s history which is showcased at our wide range of world-class attractions and impressive built heritage like Bannockburn House. It’s why people from all across the world are drawn into the area every year and we look forward to welcoming more visitors during our 900^th birthday celebrations.”

But this remarkable find is now under threat from severe water ingress caused by the deterioration of the building. The Bannockburn House Trust, who look after the property, is urgently seeking funding to preserve this invaluable piece of Scotland’s past. The water ingress is from a deteriorating 17^th century roof which features hand-hewn wooden slate pegs and carvings on the roof beams. The spectacular ornate plasterwork ceilings are also at risk. Urgent restoration is needed to prevent further damage to the important piece of Scotland’s history. The Trust is launching a major fundraising campaign to proceed with the work. “Our goal is to restore the building and protect the musket ball hole and other important historical features of Bannockburn House,” said Amanda Monaghan, spokesperson and operations manager for the charity. “This discovery is a tangible link to a significant event in our history, and it’s crucial that we act now to preserve it for future generations.”

The restoration project is estimated to cost millions of pounds, as the building needs to be carefully studied, conserved, and restored to its original condition. The charity also has daily running costs and upkeep. It is launching fundraising bids to raise the necessary aid and is appealing to history enthusiasts, residents, and supporters of heritage preservation to contribute through the donate button on their webpage. “We invite everyone to join us in this important effort,” added Ms Monaghan. “By restoring the house, we can safeguard this fascinating piece of history and ensure Bannockburn House continues to inspire and educate.”

Main photo: L to R: Amanda Monaghan, Professor Murray Pittock, Anne Monaghan and Catherine Bradley with the bullet hole.

 

The Board of the American Scottish Foundation (ASF) are honored to announce that the 2024 Wallace Award will be presented to Sir Jim Walker, CBE, for his outstanding contribution to transatlantic relationships and to Scotland’s world of food and drink. Walker’s, with a global reach and over 1400 employees, celebrate in 2024 their 125^th anniversary.

Sir Jim Walker is the grandson of Walker’s Shortbread founder Joseph. Along with his brother Joe and sister Marjorie, he helped to develop the company from being a village bakery selling only in Speyside, Scotland to an international company represented in around 100 overseas markets. Walker’s Shortbread has now become a flagship of Scottish foods, and the company has become the largest family-owned biscuit manufacturer in the UK.  In 2022, Sir Jim was knighted in Queen Elizabeth II’s last Birthday Honours list and subsequently was invested by King Charles III at the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh. The Honour of Knighthood was in recognition of exceptional services to the food industry.

Young Scot Wallace Award

Alongside the Wallace Award, ASF introduced in 2023 the Young Scot Wallace Award to recognize a young person of Scottish descent who is making exceptional strides in their field of endeavor. THE ASF are delighted to announce that the Young Scot Wallace Award will be presented to Siobhan Mackenzie. The award-winning young designer has already made an exceptional contribution to the world of fashion and design – taking it forward in a fresh new and yet classic direction. Siobhan Mackenzie is a self-named authentic Scottish fashion label, founded in 2014, when the designer was twenty-one years old.

The company takes its inspiration from its Highland heritage- set up by Siobhan Mackenzie who is a multi-award winning Fashion Designer from The Black Isle.  Siobhan champions a Made in Scotland ethos where traditional craftsmanship and modern design thinking are fused together to create the brand’s signature aesthetic. An advocate for slow fashion and sustainability, the designer is proud to work in contrast to the fast-fashion industry. Mackenzie’s upbringing influenced the choices within her business, her father, an environment officer for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency installed sustainability into her as a child. The luxury brand has gone on to be featured in the likes of the Scottish Banner, Forbes, GQ, Elle US, Kobe Fashion Museum Japan and The V&A Dundee Museum. Clients include Jared Leto, Justin Bieber, The Royal Family, The Commonwealth Games, Bergdorf Goodman & the LVMH group.

The Annual Wallace Dinner and Awards will take place on Friday, November 1 in New York. The evening will also mark the 50^th anniversary of the first Scotland Week, organized by the American Scottish Foundation co-founder, Lady Natalie Douglas Hamilton during the week of November 10^th, 1974 – a template for the ever-growing New York Tartan Week celebrations of today. There will once again be an extensive online and in person silent auction of exceptional items.   The Wallace Awards evening will benefit the ongoing work of the American-Scottish Foundation directed to the ASF Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton Youth Bursary Program

To learn more about the ASF and the Wallace Awards, visit:  www.americanscottishfoundation.com/events/2024-Wallace-Award.html

This year’s World Pipe Band Champions have been crowned after a spectacular finale of the renowned international contest in Glasgow.  Inveraray & District Pipe Band took the coveted title after seeing off stiff competition from runners-up Field Marshal Montgomery of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and Simon Fraser University (Canada) who finished third. It is the third time that Inveraray & District has been crowned World Champions, having previously lifted the trophy in 2017 and 2019. This summer has proved a winning season for the Argyll and Bute band as it also took the top prize at the Scottish Pipe Band Championships, held in July in Dumbarton.

The pinnacle of the pipe band competition calendar

The prestigious international championships, which are the pinnacle of the pipe band competition calendar, were held on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 August at Glasgow Green.   With 204 bands from 13 countries taking part in the 2024 ‘Worlds’, more than 7,000 pipers and drummers took to the field to compete in the ultimate battle of the bands. The biggest contingent – 119 bands – was from Scotland, the second largest – with 25 bands – was from Northern Ireland, and the third largest national representation was from the USA, which entered 18 bands.  The line-up of nations competing also included countries as far afield as Australia, Oman and Hong Kong – which took part in the championships for the first time.

A much-loved event that’s hugely popular with spectators from near and far, the contest always attracts thousands of visitors to Glasgow Green to experience the stirring sights and sounds, and memorable atmosphere, of the event. Attendance at this year’s premier pipes and drums showcase was around 35,000. Audiences all over the world were also able to view it thanks to live streaming by the BBC and via the www.theworlds.co.uk website. Glasgow, a UNESCO City of Music, has a long association with the World Pipe Band Championships, having first hosted them back in 1948, and staging every edition of the event since 1986. Every year, the Worlds culminates in an impressive spectacle when all of the competing bands march into the arena and past the Chieftain of the Worlds to assemble on the field and play Scotland The Brave together, before the presentation of well over 100 trophies across the various contest grades, and the final announcement of the new World Champions.

The level of talent that’s thriving in the international pipe band community

The event is delivered by culture and sport charity Glasgow Life on behalf of The Royal Pipe Band Association with support from EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.  Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren, Chieftain of The World Pipe Band Championships, said: “Glasgow is very proud of its long association with the Worlds, and privileged to host an annual event which not only has such significance to the global pipe band community but is also an important celebration of Scotland’s culture and heritage. The championships are immensely valued; they enhance the city’s international reputation as an outstanding events destination, boost tourism, and contribute greatly to our local economy. We are grateful to The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association for continuing to trust us to stage its flagship contest, and Event Scotland for its support of the event. Our thanks also go to every one of the incredibly talented musicians who have gathered on Glasgow Green to treat our audiences to an incredible display of their skills, and to everyone who joined us to support this year’s thrilling championships.  And our congratulations go to the 2024 World Champions, Inveraray & District Pipe Band.”

Colin Mulhern, Chief Executive of The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, said: “Competition for this year’s Worlds was incredibly close, and our top Grade 1 bands battling for the ultimate title of World Champions had a fiercely-fought contest. They, and all of our competitors this year, did themselves, their bands, and their countries proud. And Inveraray & District are very worthy winners; their achievement in securing the 2024 World Champions title was outstanding and they deserve huge congratulations. It was fantastic to have so many great bands, from so many countries, taking part in this year’s Worlds – and of course, so many supporters and spectators coming together for this year’s championships. That’s a clear indication of the level of talent that’s thriving in the international pipe band community, and the passion of musicians the world over. It also demonstrates the strength of global interest there is in the championships, and in the traditional music and culture of Scotland.”

Next year’s World Pipe Band Championships will be held on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 August 2025.

World Pipe Band Championships 2024 results

Grade 1

Inveraray & District (Scotland)

Field Marshal Montgomery (Northern Ireland)

Simon Fraser University (Canada)

St Laurence O’Toole (Ireland)

Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia (Scotland)

Police Scotland Fife (Scotland)

Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia (Scotland)

Scottish Power (Scotland)

Police Scotland Federation (Scotland)

78^th Fraser Highlanders (Canada)

St.Thomas Alumni (USA)

Johnstone (Scotland)

Closkelt (Northern Ireland)

City of Dunedin (USA)

 

Grade 2

Ravara (Northern Ireland)

North Stratton (Canada)

Pipe Band Club (Australia)

Glasgow Skye (Scotland)

Uddingston (Scotland)

Ulster Scottish (USA)

Manorcunningham (Ireland)

Buchan Peterson (Scotland)

MacMillan (USA)

Royal Burgh of Annan (Scotland)

Portlethen & District (Scotland)

Los Angeles Scots (USA)

City of Edinburgh (Scotland)

Peel Regional Police (Canada)

Tullylagan (Northern Ireland)

St. Joseph’s (Ireland)

Kilchoman Distillery Isle of Islay (Scotland)

Coalburn IOR (Scotland)

Greater Midwest (USA)

 

Grade 3A

Oban (Scotland)

Dartmouth & District (Canada)

Vale of Atholl (Scotland)

Guelph (Canada)

Denny & Dunipace (Scotland)

Greighland Crossing (Canada)

 

Grade 3B

Uddingston Strathclyde (Scotland)

Burntisland & District (Scotland)

Cross Borders (Spain)

Methel & District (Scotland)

Cloughfin (Northern Ireland)

Arbroath (Scotland)

 

Grade 4A

Irvine Memorial (Scotland)

Ballyboley (Northen Ireland)

William Kerr Memorial (Northern Ireland)

Upper Crossgare (Northern Ireland)

City of Dunedin (USA)

Cullen (Ireland)

 

Grade 4B

Black Raven (Ireland)

2 Scots (Scotland)

Altnaveigh (Northern Ireland)

Moneygore (Northern Ireland)

Govan Community (Scotland)

Letterkenny & District (Ireland)

 

Juvenile

George Watson’s College (Scotland)

St Thomas Episcopal School (USA)

Dollar Academy (Scotland)

Preston Lodge High School (Scotland)

 

Novice A

George Watson’s College (Scotland)

West Lothian Schools (Scotland)

Scots College No.1 (Australia)

Brisbane Boys’ College (Australia)

Dollar Academy (Scotland)

Renfrewshire Schools (Scotland)

 

Novice B

Scots College No.2 (Australia)

Burntisland & District (Scotland)

Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia (Scotland)

Stirling and District Schools Junior (Scotland)

High School of Dundee (Scotland)

Kintyre Schools (Scotland)

Edinburgh Academy (Scotland)

Capital District Youth (USA)

North Lanarkshire (Scotland)

Lochgelly High School Junior (Scotland)

Dollar Academy (Scotland)

Balerno District Schools (Scotland)

 

Intrepid Scottish TV adventurer Paul Murton is encouraging people across Argyll to put their best foot forward and explore the peninsula during this year’s Cowalfest walking festival. A list of 24 walks and events have now been finalised by the Cowalfest organising committee to be held over a five-day period from the 12^th to 16^th September.

Paul, who grew up in Ardentinny and is well known for his longstanding Grand Tours of Scotland TV series, commented: “The vast panoramic seascapes of Loch Long, Holy Loch and the Firth of Clyde complemented by the wonderful Cowal hills were my inspirations as a child. This is the place that nurtured a desire for adventure that has never left me and that’s what I attempt to reflect in my TV programmes. I always wanted to know what was over the next hill and what amazing views that could be experienced. It’s fantastic to know that events like Cowalfest provide a great opportunity for folks to experience that sense of wander through a wide variety of guided walks aimed at all abilities.  This is where the Highlands start, both geologically and aesthetically, and it should be as widely accessible as possible. There are so many stories, so much history and awe-inspiring nature to be experienced across Cowal. There’s the magnificent Benmore Botanic Garden, a perfect starting and point for a trek along the banks of Loch Eck which offers some inspiring views as well as lots of myths and legends, and the history which you can find in spades at places like Historic Kilmun. Both of those places have been featured in my Grand Tours programmes and played a part in my childhood.”

Highlight the nature and history of the Cowal area

Paul who attended Dunoon Grammar School, Aberdeen University and the National Film and Television School before embarking on a life of adventure that took in a myriad mountains across the globe added, “There’s also a popular five-mile hike from Ardentinny to Carrick Castle near Lochgoilhead that will feature in the Cowalfest programme. It follows the shorelines of Loch Long and Loch Goil. Walking festivals provide participants with the ability to engage in the vistas and learn all about what helped to shape them as well as providing a boost for our physical health and mental wellbeing which has become such an important issue in recent times.”

Andy Armstrong, chair of Cowalfest, commented: “Paul embodies the adventurous spirit that has been a part of Cowalfest since its inception 20 years ago. After last year’s false start due to the weather and a couple of years when the pandemic took its toll, I’m delighted to say that we have put together an ambitious programme of walks and events that seeks to highlight the nature and history of the Cowal area. There will be a geology walk through Innellan, a historic trek around Kilmun and a foraging nature walk as well as various walks and talks around the peninsula aimed at all levels of experience and fitness. There really is something for everyone. We have also been boosted recently with grants from Western Ferries and the National Lottery Community Fund that will go a long way to helping us get Cowalfest back on the map.”

 

What a Tartan Month it’s been!  It began with the annual Kirkin’ ‘O The Tartan service at The Scots’ Church on 30^th June with the Parade of Clans piped into The Scots’ Church by Presbyterian Ladies College pipers.  Clans were announced and welcomed in both Scottish Gaelic and English as they laid their tartans in front of the communion table.  The following Sunday, in the lead up to the Melbourne Tartan Day Parade, morning pop-up performances by Old Scotch Pipes & Drums in The Block Arcade and The City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band outside Melbourne Town Hall attracted crowds of City shoppers.  There were Highland Dancing displays on the terrace of the Old Treasury Building by Victorian Scottish Highland Dance Inc. and the Glenbrae Celtic Dancers, while The Robert Burns Club of Melbourne held a poetry reading in the Treasury Gardens beside Robert Burns’ statue.  The plaintive sound of the pipes called as pipers played on the balconies of the Old Treasury Building, signalling it was time for the Melbourne Tartan Day Parade.

The Hon.Ted Baillieu, Chieftain of Pipe Bands Victoria (and former Premier of Victoria) led the Official Party of John Jeffreys, Chairman, Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation, Carol Davis, CEO, Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation & Clan MacLennan Chief’s Commissioner Australasia and Frank McGregor, Clan Gregor Chief’s High Commissioner Australia & Honorary Consul of the United Kingdom, Tasmania.  The official party was followed by representatives of Scottish Clans and Societies, a massed pipe band led by Pipe Major Ben Casey, highland dancers, and members of the Scottish Terrier Club with their wee Scotties.  After parading down Collins Street, a pipe band recital and mass Highland Fling finale was held under the portico in the forecourt of The Westin Hotel Melbourne, to the delight of hotel guests, staff and spectators. The acoustics were spine tingling!

But it didn’t end with the Tartan Day Parade. During Melbourne Tartan Festival month there were two sold out Burns Suppers at Il Duca Restaurant in East Melbourne, featuring acclaimed tenor John Carlo Bellotti, a high energy cèilidh dance, community outreach with visits to two nursing homes by the Glenbrae Celtic Dancers, Poetry in the Pub hosted by the Robert Burns Club of Melbourne, the Victorian Pipe Band Association Recital and Solo Piping Championships, Family Research in person sessions and online lecture with the GSV, Scottish Enlightenment lecture at the Menzies Institute, Melbourne University, an exhibition and exclusive behind the scenes tour of Old Treasury Building, online lectures and a CBD Scottish Connections walk with social historian and curator Kenneth Park, Scottish Gaelic language and culture immersion class hosted by the Scottish Gaelic Society of Victora and two concerts at the Kew Court House Theatre, the first featuring traditional singer of Scots’ song, Fiona Ross and the second, The Scotsman, Graeme McColgan.

The Lord Lyon

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the premier event of the month-long festival the Melbourne Tartan Festival Gala Dinner & Concert on the 20^th  July was made all the more special with the presence of Guest of Honour, Dr Joseph Morrow CVO CBE KStJ KC LLD DL FRSE, the Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms.  Lord Lyon had accepted an invitation extended by the Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation to spend 10 days in Melbourne during the final week of the Festival. After ascending the red carpeted grand staircase of Melbourne Town Hall, guests enjoyed drinks and canapés in the foyer before entering the glittering Main Hall. A grand and ceremonial welcome followed, as the official party, led by Lord Lyon, was piped in.  A sumptuous gourmet dinner accompanied by fine wines and concert style entertainment followed.  Alan Beck, immediate past President of the Robert Burns World Federation delivered a memorable Address to a Haggis.  Later in the evening Alan gave a stellar vocal performance before an enthusiastic audience.

Lord Lyon was treated to some of Australia’s best Scottish/Australia’s talent, with this year’s feature band, Old Scotch Pipes & Drums, Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club with guest singer Fiona Ross and a superb Highland dancing set from the Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing.  The City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band accompanied the Glenbrae Celtic Dancers, before Glenbrae dancers joined Celtic rock band Claymore onstage to close out the night while guests danced the night out.

During the evening Dr Joseph John Morrow CVO CBE QC LLD DL FRSE The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon, King of Arms presented the Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation Chairman John Jeffreys and Chief Executive Officer Carol Davis with the Foundation’s recently granted Coat of Arms, hand painted on velum by the Court of the Lord Lyon Heraldic Artist.  It was a fitting conclusion to what had been a wonderful celebration of Scottish culture and heritage by the Scottish/Australian community during an action packed July.

During his visit, Lord Lyon met with Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC, The Governor of Victoria, presented the Sugden Oration, ‘A Right Royal Year’, at Melbourne University, attended a reception in his honour at the Consulate Residence honour hosted by Mr. Stephan Lysaght, Consul-General of the United Kingdom, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, A Scottish Celebration Dinner at The Melbourne Club, dropped in on the VPA Solo Piping Championships, addressed the assembly at Scotch College Melbourne, had a guided tour of The Scots’ Church Melbourne and attended several welcome lunches and dinners where he met many local Scots.  There were also less formal visits to an AFL game at the MCG, a Bellarine Peninsula Winery for lunch and Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary where Lord Lyon had his first up close encounter with a kangaroo.  As we farewelled Lord Lyon, who was a most gracious and engaging guest, we urged him to ‘haste ye back’!

Text by: Carol Davis
All images courtesy of Melbourne Tartan Festival/Adam Purcell – Melbourne Ceili Camera.

 

The sweltering heat couldn’t keep the crowds away from Glengarry Highland Games 75^th edition. From the opening of the gates on Friday morning to the last notes in the music venues on Saturday night, Games fans celebrated their favourite summer event and their Scottish heritage. The Games organizing committee and the hundreds of volunteers had big smiles on their tired faces as the massed bands completed their performance and left the field.

And what a Games it was! On Friday, athletes in the Women’s, Amateurs and Masters overcame the oppressive heat to show off their skills in the heavy events. Pipers and drummers found shady spots as they competed in their solo events. Crowds packed the air-conditioned venues to watch a sold-out harp workshop and the Youth Fiddlers showcasing the best of young Glengarry fiddlers. In the covered Patron’s patio, the seats were filled as Scotland’s National Chef Gary MacLean, wowed them with his cooking skills and his humourous commentary while he created mouth-watering Scottish favourites on two Coleman stoves. The samples of his offerings were quickly scoffed up even down to scraping the cooking spoons. The Metcalfe Centre overflowed with people enjoying not only the cooler air but also a superb lineup of Glengarry musicians of all ages.

75^th special event

This year’s Tattoo saw full grandstands with the area from the grandstand to the infield lined with rows of chairs some put in place since Thursday morning by people wanting to secure the prime spots. The fans were not disappointed as massed bands, the MacCulloch Dancers, the RCAF Pipes and Drums with their graceful dancers, Glengarry’s Hadrian’s Wall, Scotland’s lively Gleadhraich, and Cape Breton’s Barra MacNeils kept the crowd clapping and cheering. One much anticipated part of the evening was this year’s 75^th special event, a drone show. And it was amazing as the black night sky became alive with coloured dots that circled around and then moved into popular shapes like a fiddle with a moving bow, a dancer’s shoe, the flag of Scotland and to great cheers, the Canadian flag. As the last drone twinkled off, a fantastic fireworks display erupted to top off a memorable Tattoo and day.

Saturday brought more heat and more people. One event that drew a huge audience and roars of approval was this year’s presentation of the Scottish Heavy Events World Championships. Ten athletes from around the world soon showed the crowds why they were world class athletes. The Games has seen some remarkable heavy events, but the feats of these athletes were amazing. In temperatures close to 40C, they competed throughout the day under the sun. At the end of the day, the competition crowned John Van Beuren of California for the third straight year as World Champion in Scottish Heavy Events. Over in the Wee Bairns area, a record number of 2,000 children visited the shady area set up with a petting zoo, pony rides, face painting and entertainment. The Clan parade at noon hour reminded the filled grandstands about the pride of Scots for their tartan and their traditions as clans circled the infield with the banners flying followed by loyal clansmen waving to the crowds. The Official Ceremonies were most poignant as this year’s President Don Gamble, grandson of Games co-founder, Doc Gamble, welcomed his uncle Reg as Guest of Honour.

Revered Scottish tradition

As part of the 75^th commemoration, twenty people who attended the first Games in 1948 were seated in a special area and recognized by the President for this accomplishment and for their long-term support of the Games. Many of those recognized have attended almost every Games.

A full afternoon of athletic events, Celtic music, shopping and visiting was capped off by the moment most Games fans wait for all year and that was the massed pipe bands performance at the closing of the Games. This year was one of the best with fifty pipe bands filling the infield cheered on by a capacity crowd. The drum fanfare which was inaugurated last year attracted over 80 drummers from the pipe bands who performed without a flaw with the crowds erupting frequently with cheers and applause. Then when the Ottawa Highlanders Pipes and Drums started up the first notes of Amazing Grace, the crowd grew silent and listened as every note lingered. When the other thousand pipers and drummers joined in, the music swelled to a crescendo before the Highlanders took over to complete the piece. The thunderous appreciation from the audience was not only for the musicians on the field but also a salute to another wonderful Games.

The 75^th edition of the Glengarry Highland Games was a perfect celebration of our storied past and a signal that this revered Scottish tradition will continue to be a fan favourite for another ¾ of a century and more. See you next year at the Games and we’ll get to do it all over again.

Mark your calendars now with August 1 & 2, 2025. For full details on competition results, go to: www.glengarryhighlandgames.com.

 

The Bernera Riot trial took place 150 years ago on July 17, 1874 – the same year Scottish law firm Innes & Mackay was founded.

A Highland law firm has uncovered ties to a historic court case that prompted major changes in Scots law. Charles Innes, founding partner of Innes & Mackay, secured a verdict of not guilty in the first documented legal victory for Highland crofters – representing three men for their participation in the Bernera Riot of 1874. The victory is known in legal circles as the beginning of crofters’ ‘fight back’ after the Highland clearances, leading to the Napier Commission and land reform in Scotland. But Innes & Mackay’s involvement in the case, which took place the same year the firm of solicitors and estate agents was founded, has only just come to light, thanks to trainee solicitor Amy Macleod.

Bernera

“My family has lived on Bernera for several generations, and Charles Innes’ name is legendary on the island,” said Amy. “There’s even a housing scheme named after him. But it was only recently, when researching the 150^th anniversary of the riot, that I discovered that the Charles Innes I grew up hearing tales of was the same man that founded the law firm where I now work!” Great Bernera, known simply as Bernera,  is a small island off the coast of the Isle of Lewis, home to fewer than 300 residents. The landmark legal case stemmed from an eviction notice served to 57 crofters on the island by Sir James Matheson, then owner of Lewis, via the Chamberlain of Lewis, Donald Munro. Amy explained: “Donald Munro was already an unpopular character on Bernera. So, when his men served the eviction notices, the community was understandably outraged at losing their livelihoods. Some crofters approached the men serving the notices as they returned to their boat on March 24, 1874, and during the encounter one of the officer’s oilskins was ripped.”

On April 8, crofter Angus Macdonald was arrested while visiting Stornoway for his part in the incident. With Macdonald resisting arrest and subsequently taken to prison, the Riot Act was read as a large crowd gathered. “When word of Angus Macdonald’s arrest reached Bernera,” continued Amy, “a group of croters marched 27 miles to Stornoway to demand an audience with Sir James Matheson to voice their protest. Angus Macdonald, Norman Macaulay and Iain Macleod then received summonses to appear in court to be charged with the assault of Colin Maclennan, the Sheriff Officer who had served the eviction notices. Charles Innes represented the three men on July 17 and 18 – holding his own against the prosecution until 10pm, when the judge delivered a verdict of not guilty.”

Key moment in Scottish history

To mark the 150^th anniversary of the Bernera Riot, Bernera Community Association and Bernera Museum will hold a 27-mile commemorative walk on September 7, 2024 – supported by Innes & Mackay. Following the walk, participants will enjoy a party in the Bernera Community Hall. Laura Cormack, director of property law and conveyancing at Innes & Mackay, said: “When Amy came to us and told us about the incredible connection between our firm and the Bernera Riot, both celebrating their 150^th anniversaries this year, we were amazed. It seemed like such a coincidence that someone so involved in the community on the island would end up working at the same firm that represented her fellow islanders all those years ago. At Innes & Mackay, we have always held the community in the highest regard – so this story about one of our founding partners standing up for those facing injustice leaves us feeling incredibly proud of our heritage as we look to the future.”

Norma Macleod, chairperson of Bernera Community Association, added: “The Bernera Riot is an important event not just in our community, but in Scottish history. It was the first chance crofters really had to stand up to the establishment following the Highland clearances, proving that there is strength in standing together against injustice. We are looking forward to marking this historic event in September with a walk along the route taken by the crofters to Lewis, and are grateful to Innes & Mackay for their support in organising the event and helping to shine a light on this key moment in Scottish history.”

Main photo: Amy Macleod on Bernera.

 

Glenfinnan is a wee community with a big history, made extra famous after featuring in the Harry Potter films, where the ‘Hogwarts Express’ is seen crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and the loch view doubles as a dramatic setting for the famous wizarding school. However, there’s more to Glenfinnan than Harry Potter, so here’s our guide to eight things you mustn’t miss when you visit.

1. Arrive or leave by train

Make the same journey Harry did over the imposing 21-arch railway viaduct – a marvel of Victorian engineering and ambition, framed by high hills and a deep glen. The local Scotrail service between Fort William and Mallaig gives you the chance to enjoy the incredible views for an affordable, car-free day out, all year-round.

2. Watch ‘The Jacobite’ steam train puff across Glenfinnan Viaduct

This is a popular spectacle to see from a variety of viewpoints around the village, several times a day, spring to autumn.

3. Discover the story of the ‘Raising of the Standard’

Glenfinnan’s most celebrated moment came back in 1745, when Charles Edward Stuart (or ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’) gathered the Jacobite clans here to raise the Royal Standard, beginning his daring attempt to regain the throne for the Stuarts. What started with great optimism in Glenfinnan ended in defeat less than a year later at the Battle of Culloden. This story is shared in a fascinating Jacobite exhibition in the free Visitor Centre, as well as remembered at the Glenfinnan Highland Gathering – a traditional sporting and cultural event that takes place every August around the anniversary of Charles’s visit.

4. Climb the steps to the top of Glenfinnan Monument

Cared for by the National Trust for Scotland since the 1930s, this 60ft tower was built in memory of the clansmen who lost their lives in the ’45 Rising. You’ll emerge high above the shoreline for a 360° panorama of Glenfinnan, one of the most exhilarating experiences the Highlands has to offer and a must-do for any adventurous traveller.

5. Soak up the sights on a wander around the village

Discover the historic Glenfinnan Railway Station, now an award-winning wee museum dedicated to the West Highland Line, and the Gothic masterpiece of the Church of St Mary and St Finnan. This church was designed by Edward Pugin, the son of the architect who built London’s Houses of Parliament.

6. Immerse yourself in nature

Paddle your toes or go swimming in the loch, climb mountains up the glen, or take a boat trip with Loch Shiel Cruises for a chance to spot nesting eagles and other wildlife.

7. Refuel with tasty treats

There is a choice of cafés, restaurants or hotels, including the Viaduct View Café or the historic Glenfinnan Dining Car. Take home a local souvenir, like the evocative scents of Glenfinnan Candles, from the gift shop.

8. Stay longer

Make the most of the opportunity to have Glenfinnan to yourselves after the crowds leave and witness the sunset between the mountains at the far end of Loch Shiel. From loch-side pods and sustainable bothies with wood-fired hot tubs, to a railway sleeping car and luxury historic hotels, there is something for every overnight budget.

Text and images are courtesy of the National Trust for Scotland. For more information on the Trust or to help them protect Scotland’s heritage see: www.nts.org.uk.

Main photo: Glenfinnan Viaduct poster. Photo: Scotrail.

 

In the 1970s I was spoiled for choice in the buses I could use to get home to Kirkintilloch from Glasgow. Their ultimate destinations included Kilsyth, Falkirk, Dunfermline and, mysteriously, Leven in Fife. I can’t imagine how long the full journey to Leven must have taken. I wish I’d tried it before it was axed. Many years on, Leven has become a little more accessible again. The town’s railway line re-opened in June 2024. It is hoped that it will help regenerate the area by giving local people more travel opportunities while also bringing in visitors. Leven was once a popular seaside resort, while its neighbours Buckhaven and Methil were industrial towns; since the 1980s, all three have fallen on hard times.

Leven Station

Leven-Methil-Buckhaven (often, thankfully, shortened to ‘Levenmouth’) was Scotland’s most populous urban area without a passenger railway. Not anymore. Soon after the re-opening I made the trip to Leven to see what doors the new railway opens up. The new station has the River Leven on one side and Leven’s town centre on the other. First, however, I took a diversion to Methil. East Fife FC’s New Bayview Stadium used to be one of Scotland’s furthest football venues from the rail network but is now one of the closest, only a few minutes’ walk from Leven Station.

The Station neighbours the town’s swimming pool and leisure centre and is also just two minutes’ walk from Leven Bus Station. From there you can continue by bus to the fabled seaside towns of the East Neuk of Fife; Largo, Elie, St Monans, Pittenweem, Anstruther and Crail. Until 1960s trains continued from Leven through these towns and villages, and on to St Andrews.

The thing you really notice about Leven is its beach. Long and straight and stretching way beyond the town itself. It had only a few dog-walkers on my visit, but it was a chilly June day (yes, June is the height of summer, but this is Scotland) with a nasty breeze and a hint of rain. It’s still impressive though and there are views south across the Firth of Forth towards Edinburgh and Arthur’s Seat, and to North Berwick Law and the Bass Rock. Largo Law, on the same northern shore as Leven, draws the eye, an impressive low hill that towers over the twin villages of Upper and Lower Largo. Largo is famed as the home town of Alexander Selkirk, the model for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

Gardens

The beach area has all the usual attractions in terms of cafes and playparks. Right next to the Beachcomber Amusements arcade is Leven Festival Gardens, a small and attractive public park. The gardens themselves are fine, though the more exotic plants seemed to be shivering a bit during my visit. However, the park also features two memorials to the Polish troops that were stationed nearby during the Second World War. In this area they prepared for the unsuccessful assault on Arnhem in 1944. The tall, narrow stone near the entrance has an inscription that reads: To commemorate the Scottish-Polish friendship begun in 1940-1944 when the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade was formed and trained in Leven and District. This monument was unveiled on the 20^th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem September 1964.

No doubt many who attended the unveiling ceremony arrived in Leven by train. On the 60^th anniversary of that unveiling, they’ll be able to do so again. The chunkier monument at the far end of the park names General Stanislaw Sosabowski, who commanded the Polish unit. He was a veteran of the First World War and actually carried out his first parachute jumps while commanding the unit – at the age of 49! There’s another curiosity in the gardens; a largely circular design of inscribed stones flush with the lawn in which they’re set. A display board explains that this is an ‘analemmatic sundial’ and gives instructions on how to position yourself so that you take the place of the usual pointer. On a gloomy day like the one on which I visited it was impossible to use it and, anyway, it’s quicker just to glance at your phone or watch.

The Fife Coastal Path

Further outside the town is Silverburn Park, a former estate that came into council ownership in the 1970s and is now being restored for the local community and as a visitor attraction. It’s already a welcoming green space with a café, campsite and woodland walks and it will be worthwhile to keep an eye on developments as the former flax mill on-site is restored and transformed into a community resource.

The Fife Coastal Path runs through Buckhaven, Methil and Leven, and no doubt the stretch eastwards from here will become more popular with the ease of access the railway brings. However, it isn’t walking that Fife brings to mind for many people. Leven is within reach of several golf courses and the worldwide home of golf is just a short drive or bus ride away. If you travel on the new railway in the months to come, you are likely to see several of your fellow-passengers lugging their clubs off on arrival at Leven. It’s not a passion I share or understand but it’s one that will play a big part in regenerating Levenmouth and its surrounding area. The new railway will also have a significant role. Currently, trains run hourly to Leven from Edinburgh Waverley but the frequency is scheduled to double from December. I had quite a while to wait for my return train but there’s a small coffee shop, Colliers Coffee Roasters, not far away, so I had a takeaway flat white to keep me warm (in June, remember!) while I waited. Give Leven’s new railway a try yourself – but choose a warmer day, if you can…

By: David McVey.

Main photo: ScotRail.

 

Scottish Week Sydney, always held closest to the first of July and International Tartan Day, was in 2024, from 28^th June to 2^nd of July. Chief, John MacNeacail of MacNeacail and Scorrybreac, along with his wife Jenni,  were the honoured guest for the Week, joining Scottish Australian Heritage Council (SAHC) Patrons, the Earl of Loudoun and Earl of Dunmore. Proceedings all kicked off with a Burns Supper at the Castlereagh Hotel, with an Address to the Haggis, Highland Dancing by the talented NSW Highland Dancing Team, the Burns song A Red, Red Rose performance, an address by Earl of Dunmore and special SAHC Life Membership Awards. Concluded by the ever-popular Auld Lang Syne. Saturday saw a visit to the National Maritime Museum and a Lunch nearby, a talk in the evening by The Chief, on Clan MacNicol History.

Sunday was the Kirkin’ of the Tartan at Hunter Baillie Church with a delicious morning tea, a zoom presentation in the evening saw a talk on cartoons from the 1800’s of a Scottish nature. Monday was a wonderful tour of the historic St James Church in the city, followed by the elegant NSW Parliamentary Lunch. Monday evening was a book launch of Scottish letters home from new arrivals in early Australia. The week concluded with a parade and the Inspection of the Scottish/Australian Cairn at Mosman, assembled from rocks sent over by schoolchildren from every Parish in Scotland, a gift for the 1988 Bicentenary.  A very busy but enjoyable weekend and beyond of activities.

Text by: Mal Nicolson

 

The Scottish Banner speaks to Andy Scott

Sculptor Andy Scott was born and raised in Glasgow and is a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art. His works can be seen across Scotland, as well and other parts of the UK and internationally including in Australia and the USA. His most iconic work are The Kelpies, the world’s largest equine sculptures, which are celebrating their 10-year anniversary this year. Andy took the time to speak to the Scottish Banner on the challenges of implementing such a project, creating a landmark for Scotland and how his home of Glasgow forever stays with him.

2024 marks the 10^th anniversary of The Kelpies. Can you tell us briefly how the concept two landmark 30 metre steel horses in Falkirk came to be?

I was approached by Scottish Canals who wanted to create a large piece on a new development to compliment the already popular Falkirk Wheel. They had wanted something mythological, but I decided to try something to do with horses and the heritage they have played in central Scotland’s industrial past. It took an incredible amount of effort, as you can imagine, and was an expensive project. This all started about 18 or 19 years ago, so it took a long time to come to fruition.

How many logistical challenges did you face drawing up your plans for The Kelpies from your Glasgow work studio to actually implementing the largest equine sculptures in the world?

The easy part was the design stuff and working out how they would look and be created. We engaged an excellent structural engineering company from Yorkshire, and they took over the reigns on many things. We did have the challenges with logistics, infrastructure and bureaucracy. This also was not just the sculptures themselves, but a major parks redevelopment with the creation of The Helix and the whole project was a very complicated undertaking. The creation of the sculptures themselves was not as difficult as some other challenges we had, but we got there in the end, and it was a major triumph, and it was all worth the effort.

For those who are not aware each statue has a name, can you tell us how the names Duke and Baron came to be?

The names came from when I did the first small scale models of The Kelpies. When I was fine tuning those early models, I was fortunate to have two Clydesdale horses called Baron and Duke come and visit me at my studio in Maryhill in Glasgow. As Baron and Duke were my models for the project their names were inherited, and it is a lovely they have now been immortalised in this way.

The Kelpies have been seen by millions of people and are now one of Scotland’s iconic attractions. How does that make you feel to know your work has had such a positive impact on Scottish tourism and culture?

It really makes me feel really proud. Of course it was not just me that was behind this project, there were hundreds of people, and I am simply the figurehead. I feel like I just scored the winning goal as there was a whole team behind me. There is almost a day that does not go by where we do not get to see pictures of The Kelpies, it is so popular with photographers in Scotland and that makes me so proud to have been part of this unique project. I am immensely proud how The Kelpies have been received by the people of Scotland and beyond.  I am also particularly proud of how the people of Scotland and in particular the Falkirk and Grangemouth area have embraced The Kelpies and really taken them to their hearts.

You are most known and celebrated for The Kelpies, however that project was by far you’re most challenging. Knowing what you know now of what you went through to complete The Kelpies, and also how well they have now been received across the world, would you do it all again?

I think the answer to that would be never say never. It really did have challenges, but then again, any big project does. We had many hurdles to get through, but we also had an amazing team helping to push the project as we went. I think if the right elements were in in place I could, and you never know what the future holds. I look back at how the project went and for my career it was quite the achievement.

Outside of The Kelpies you have created many amazing pieces which include animals, what is it about recreating animals that inspires you so much?

I do like to work with animals, and I think most people can relate to animals at some level. There is a stronger connection for many with an animal, or a human form, than an inanimate object. I try not and over analyse it too much, but I have done many animal works and horses have clearly been a theme of my work. I feel an animal or human encourages more interaction with the audience. Using animals can have more meaning than you may think, in Aberdeen I did a leopard sculpture which some may know that the leopard is a heraldic symbol of Aberdeen, and it has been a part of the city’s history for centuries and some may just think it is a sculpture of a cat. But that is art. My head is bursting with all kinds of ideas, and some will never come to light, but I think many artists can relate to that.

You clearly thrive working with steel. What is about steel that you find so compelling to create with?

I am not sure it may be just the way I am made. Coming from Glasgow with all that industrial shipbuilding heritage it may just be in my DNA. Over the years I have worked with steel and really enjoyed it. I find it nearly a more gentle and easier thing to work with and it really does provide great results.

You are a proud son of Glasgow, what is it about your home city you love and now miss as you live in the USA? Also, as a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art how did it make you feel to make the world’s first public statue of the school’s creator and Glasgow icon Charles Rennie Mackintosh?

I now live in California but get back to Glasgow from time to time and I always know it is where I am from. I still have family there and great friends and I am very proud of the city. The architectural heritage of the city is incredible, the Victorian and Edwardian, and never leaves me.  There is also a great art scene, music and there is great pubs and food there. Glasgow will always be with me, I sometimes think if they cut me open some the River Clyde will simply run out of me, plus I have a Glasgow accent so there is not getting rid of that!

It really was amazing project to do the Charles Rennie Mackintosh statue. Being a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, this project created an extra layer of excitement for me. I had a hard time getting that one off the ground as Glasgow City Council nor the Glasgow School of Art were interested in it. The artwork was in fact commissioned by the Sanctuary Group, a social housing provider, to mark the regeneration of Anderston in Glasgow. This statue is long overdue, and I was really pushing to do him and his wife. Sadly, my client’s budget could only go so far but I hope we can also do Margaret Macdonald one day as she also did so much for Glasgow and art.

Main photo: The Kelpies at night. Photo: VisitScotland/Kenny Lam.

 

A fund to help strengthen Scotland’s international diaspora has opened for applications. The £50,000 Scottish Connections Fund is open to bids from any individual or organisation with a Scottish connection, whether that link is through heritage, education, business, culture, or a broader affinity.

Grants ranging from £2,000 to £5,000 will be awarded to support at least 10 new innovative projects that will help bring together Scotland’s diaspora and promote Scottish connections worldwide. This year’s funding follows a successful pilot last year, which supported four projects, including work by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society to help descendants of enslaved Americans document their Scottish connections.

Family and friends of Scotland globally

External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson said: “This is a fund that I’m extremely passionate about. We’ve long believed that better engaging our diaspora – family and friends of Scotland globally – can benefit Scotland economically and enrich our culture. It can also improve Scotland’s connections and reputation and we want our efforts to benefit our diaspora too. The Scottish Connections Framework, which was launched in 2023, laid out our commitments to support and expand this global community. These connections raise Scotland’s profile and reputation and encourage individuals and companies to visit, study, live, work and do business here.”

Projects must be completed by the end of March 2025 and the closing date for applications is 5pm on 4 September 2024.

For more information, and to apply, see: www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-connections-fund-how-to-apply

 

On January 8, 1924, just over one century ago, an advertisement in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate read,

“PIPERS AND DRUMMERS wanted for Newcastle Pipe Band.

Youths wishing to learn the Bagpipe are guaranteed expert tuition.

Band Practice every Wednesday night in Broadmeadow Mechanics’ Institute.”

Officially formed in 1924 (under the name Newcastle Pipe Band Association), a couple of articles in local newspapers revealed that the formation was actually unfolding from July 1923 where a very small mention in The Newcastle Sun wrote of the band requesting to borrow a base drum from The Northern Caledonian Society. By November 1923 it was reported that the band now had 19 pipers and 4 drummers and had only been in existence for four months.

Home away from home

It was probably inconceivable at that time that this band would flourish and grow, surpassing so many other community bands along the way. It has remained continuous and is still creating music and memories to this very day. Built on the enthusiasm, determination and perseverance of numerous Scotsmen and descendants of Scots, a second family or ‘home away from home’ bore creation however not everyone who plays in the band is of Scottish descent, some just love the music

Throughout the years there has seen so many stories, street parades, fundraising fairs, sporting festivals, surf life saving march past events, weddings, funerals, church fetes and even a protest against the increased price of bread in December 1938.  From playing for the Duke of York (pre taking the throne) in 1930, greeting famous radio characters “Dad and Dave from Snake Gulley” at Newcastle train station, to performing on stage with Andre Rieu. The band has proudly represented the Newcastle region for the past one hundred years, from parading down Hunter Street to events across the state, with trips from Perth to New Zealand and Tasmania to Japan.

When quizzed on the relevance of a Scottish pipe band today in 21^st century Australia, ANZAC Day would be the first topic that comes to mind. How void it would be without the pageantry of the pipe band leading the parade down King Street? How desolate would the wreath laying be without the piper playing the Lament? Anzac Day is the most important day of every bands’ calendar and this band has been partaking in services throughout Newcastle for the past one hundred years.

Centennial celebrations

This year, a successful fundraising ceilidh was held in March, the first function celebrating the centennial year, with an almost full house in attendance. Funds raised are being put towards the Centennial celebrations.

The major event however, is the Centennial Ball, being held at Newcastle City Hall on October 19 with ticket sales available at: www.trybooking.com/CSWHE.

A limited-edition of 2025 wall calendar has also been produced to help fundraise toward the celebrations priced at $25, these will be on sale throughout 2024. Contact through the bands email address [email protected] for a postal purchase.

So, in 2024, we, the City of Newcastle RSL Pipe Band, hope that all members of the Australian and Scottish community will help us celebrate and acknowledge what a colourful, meaningful and memorable thread we have woven through the country’s history books. We hope that many friends, family and former members will come along and be part of the celebrations.  We are the ‘City of Newcastle RSL Pipe Band’ and 2024 is our Centennial Year.

For more information on the City of Newcastle RSL Pipe Band, and their centenary year, see: www.newcastlerslpipeband.com.au

Text by: Ailsa Barnett. Images courtesy of the City of Newcastle RSL Pipe Band.

Runrig’s Malcolm Jones recently joined Celtic music icons Skipinnish on stage last month to debut a performance of his new tune written to mark the band’s 25^th anniversary. The Silver Voyage was performed live by the guitarist along with Skipinnish at the band’s two headline concerts in Inverness and Edinburgh in July that started a year of celebrations for Skipinnish. Malcolm Jones’s involvement is also symbolic as he has been by Skipinnish’s side through their quarter century career. The new tune captures the significance of the band’s anniversary and the journey Skipinnish has been on since 1999. It is also symbolic of the thread that runs through the band’s music reflecting the impact the sea, island life, fishing and the Gaelic language has had on their songwriting and their sound.

With hits such as Walking on the Waves, The Island, Alive and more recently Fuadaichean (Clearances), Skipinnish have put their Highlands and Islands and Gaelic roots front and centre in their repertoire. The Silver Voyage is a celebration of their work and that 25-year voyage to the very top of the Celtic music scene.  Skipinnish was formed in 1999 from a friendship between accordionist and songwriter Angus MacPhail of the Isle of Tiree and piper Andrew Stevenson from Lochaber, during their years studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The early days saw them perform in village halls across their familiar turf of the west Highlands and Islands.

The top tier of Scottish bands

Now a seven-piece, multi-instrument band they have taken their music international, performing at festivals and venues across Europe, whilst remaining true to their Highlands and Gaelic roots in all that they create.  Malcolm said: “I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Angus and Andrew since their inception as Skipinnish twenty-five years ago, watching their steady progress as musicians, songwriters and band leaders, to their current position in the top tier of Scottish bands. To celebrate this milestone, I thought it would be appropriate to compose a new tune for the occasion – The Silver Voyage. I’m looking forward to celebrating the anniversary and playing this tune with Skipinnish.”

Angus MacPhail said: “This is a highlight of our 25 years and is a great honour. To have one of Scotland’s foremost musicians, and someone we personally hold in such high regard, compose a tune to mark our silver anniversary is something very special. Malcolm is a big part of our 25-year story. He’s been a mentor, advisor and friend from our early days and still influences our music. Without his guidance and advice over the years, we would not have had the very fortunate voyage we’ve had. This new tune captures the Skipinnish story perfectly – the ups and downs of the long journey from the pubs and village halls of the west Highlands and Islands to the unbelievable feeling of  headlining in Inverness and Edinburgh Castle, playing to over 13,000 people within six days. That is something that was beyond our wildest dreams in 1999.”

 

Hear the pipes, see the strength and watch the dance.

The Hunter Valley Highland Games 2024 takes place on the third weekend of August on the 24^th August 2024 from 9:30AM to 4PM at Saltire Estate. Saltire Estate is a Scottish family-owned cellar door only 45 minutes from Newcastle, just minutes from the Lovedale exit on the Hunter Expressway.

The Highland Games are a traditional Scottish event that has been held for centuries in Scotland. It is a blend of athletic competition, pipe bands, traditional Highland and country dance and a lot of different activities happening throughout the day. At the heart of the event are the traditional athletic events which include the following: the iconic Caber Toss, Stone Put, Husafell Stone Carry, Keg Toss,  Saltire Natural Stones of Strength and new for this year: Tug-a-War where guests will be able to take part (subject to availability).

Pipe bands and more

Several Pipe Bands will play all day long including a Quintet Competition where five members of each pipe band will compete. The Mass Band Marching & Official Opening where all the pipe bands are playing together and is not to be missed.  The event also hosts traditional Scottish dancers. Some Highland Dancing and country dancing. They will both do two shows on the day and the country dancers will do a demo to involve the guests as well so they can participate. A wide range of market stalls will be on site going from Scottish craft to local crafts. The Games will also have some food trucks including some Scottish Food Trucks selling the famous haggis, a Scottish specialty.

There will be a dedicated children’s area with free face painting and jumping castle. Kids will also have the possibility to see a real Highland Cow and to create their own Scottish shield. A special attraction will be a historical reenactment group. The ‘The Highland Rose: Jacobite Living History Group’ will provide an immersive experience, showcasing a setup and presenting a show at the end of the day.

The Hunter Valley Highland games take place on Saturday August 24^th and Saltire Estate in Lovedale, NSW. For more information see: www.hvhg.com.au. Also follow them on social media handles: Facebook: Hunter Valley Highland Games and  Instagram: hvhighlandgames.

 

Scotland is known throughout the world for its stunning landscapes and rich scenery as well as its produce, from whisky to Scottish beef and lamb, from this natural environment. With increasing global awareness in food provenance and sustainability, agritourism – tourism or leisure on a working farm or croft producing food or fibre – provides unique and memorable countryside experiences.

Vicki Miller, Director of Marketing and Digital at VisitScotland, Scotland’s national tourism board says : “In recent years, particularly during the pandemic, agritourism has become a growing travel trend, with visitors seeking out authentic rural experiences that connect them to the countryside and Scotland’s natural larder.” Here’s just a flavour of agritourism experiences that can be enjoyed in Scotland.

Long Island Retreats, South Uist, Outer Hebrides

Visiting a beautiful Scottish island is always a special experience, but at Long Island Retreats on the island of South Uist, owners Donald and Lindsay offer activities to make your stay particularly memorable. On a walking tour of the croft, you’ll meet wild red deer and farm livestock, hear how the island’s crofting heritage and culture has shaped the place and its people, and even learn some Gaelic, all against the backdrop of stunning Hebridean scenery. Take a tour of the unique eco-system of the largest Machair area in Europe, explore the croft in the company of a herd of delightful Shetland ponies, enjoy a sheep-shearing demonstration, or explore the island more widely on a 4×4 vehicle tour. www.longislandretreats.co.uk

Kitchen Coos & Ewes, Dumfries and Galloway

Kitchen Coos & Ewes is run by Neale and Janet McQuistin at Airyolland Farm in the rolling countryside of Dumfries and Galloway. The farm is located within the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere, recognised internationally as a world class environment for people and nature.

Board the farm tour trailer to tour the surround hills; home to herds of iconic Highland cattle and Beltex sheep, enjoy the skill of a sheepdog demonstration, and even enjoy the unique hands-on experience of grooming a young Highland calf! Join a knowledgeable guide on a walking tour meeting farm animals, visiting the remains of a Bronze Age hut circle, and learning about the creation of drystone dykes. Tours include home baking, and you can even book a delicious cream tea. www.kitchencoosandewes.com

Old Leckie Farm, Stirling

Old Leckie Farm lies close to the historic city of Stirling, and indeed the farm has a unique history of its own. This land once belonged to Robert the Bruce, and you’ll be walking in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie who visited the 16th Century Grade A listed farmhouse. The farm has been home to the Younger family for over 100 years and today owners Fergus and Alison Younger and their three young daughters enjoy welcoming visitors from all over the world. The family lead bespoke farm tours to meet their herds of Highland castle, sheep, pigs and free range hens. Visitors can learn about sustainable farming in Scotland, and book a farm tasting to sample Old Leckie’s award-winning seasonal range of farm produce: free range eggs, Highland beef, outdoor reared pork and lamb. www.oldleckie.co.uk

Wilson’s Farm and Kitchen, Scottish Borders

Cowbog Farm has been home to the Wilson family since 1938, with three generations managing and protecting the land that is set in the historic and beautiful Scottish Borders. The family provides walking tours of the farm which vary with the season. Hear the history of the farm and the local area, and an overview of what the farm produces. Learn how they have developed biodiversity, meet their award-winning herd of Hereford cows, and spot local wildlife. After the tour, enjoy a delicious, seasonal, home cooked meal featuring produce from the farm and other local providers. www.wilsonsfarmandkitchen.com

Newton Farm Tours, Angus

Newton Farm Holidays enjoys an idyllic setting in rural Angus. Graeme and Louise Nicoll, together with their two and four legged family members, provide authentic, guided farm experiences, enabling visitors to explore daily life on a Scottish farm, and produce throughout the seasons. Experiences include walking with alpacas and Highland cow grooming. During lambing season, educational sessions for adults and fun family activities such as lamb bottle feeding and lamb cuddling are also on offer! Guests can also stay on the farm, either in the ensuite family room in the main farmhouse with a delicious Taste of Angus breakfast, or on a self-catering basis in the well equipped three-bedroom farm cottage. www.newtonfarmholidays.co.uk

Aberdeen Highland Beef, Banchory, Aberdeenshire

In the heart of lovely Royal Deeside, Grace Noble farms Highland cattle at Lochton of Leys Farm, Banchory, providing visitors with a unique and authentic farm to fork experience. Tour the farm with Grace as she shares her passion for this iconic breed. Visitors can get up close and personal with the herd, and even enjoy the change to groom Duchess, one of the herd’s award-winning mums. There is also the opportunity to sample some succulent prime Highland beef.  At certain times of year, visitors can enjoy the experience of sheering sheep under one-to-one supervision from experienced farm hands, or of cuddling delightful Scottish lambs. www.aberdeenshirehighlandbeef.com

Go Rural Scotland is a thriving community of Scotland’s farmers and crofters, passionate about producing the highest quality food and drink, and committed to caring for the environment and protecting Scotland’s landscapes for everyone to enjoy responsibly. It’s a close-knit network of quality agritourism businesses, located throughout the Scottish countryside, offering locals and visitors alike high quality and memorable experiences.

For more information on agritourism experiences across Scotland visit the Go Rural Scotland website: www.goruralscotland.com. Be sure to book in advance!

Main photo: Meeting the locals. Photo: Long Island Retreats.

 

Get ready to experience Celtic culture over the course of two full days instead of one as Canmore’s Highland Games celebrates its 33^rd year on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2024 at Canmore’s Centennial Park. What better way to spend Labour Day weekend than in one of Canada’s most beautiful mountain towns?  The Canmore Highland Games originated in 1991 armed with a mandate to foster and encourage its Celtic culture and tradition in all its forms – dance, music and sports – and to establish the Canmore Highland Games as an entertainment/cultural destination event. It is fitting that the Highland Games would be hosted in Canmore, as one of the first Highland Games known was organized by King Malcolm III Canmore (1058-1093).

Scottish and Celtic traditions

Canmore is Gaelic for “big head” or “chief”. The bagpipes, the kilts, the heavy sports and the piping, drumming and music have become emblematic of Scotland and the Highland Games blends those core Scottish and Celtic traditions with the picturesque landscape of Canmore.  With an expanded slate of events from Saturday morning to Sunday night, participants and spectators alike will be provided with non-stop entertainment. All events are steeped in rich Gaelic traditions, and will provide a unique experience to visitors. With the additional day added, Canmore Highland Games president Sandy Bunch says, “This year’s Games features more events, extra activities and no shortage of family-friendly experiences for people to enjoy all weekend”. Tickets sell quickly for the main events, which include the Taste of the Highlands and the Canmore Highland Games on Saturday, the Scotch Tastings, the Canmore Highland Games Day 2, and the popular Canmore Ceilidh, all on Sunday.

What’s On

 

The Canmore Highland Games – Aug. 31, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sept. 1, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The weekend is packed full of exciting new events and favourite activities from the past such as the Heavy Highland Sports contest, Highland Dance competitions, Piping and Drumming competitions, Tug-of-War contests and the British Car & Motorcycle Show. Additional attractions include the Clan Village, Celtic Market and food vendors, beer garden, sheep dog demonstrations, Highland Cattle, and tug of war contests.

Taste of the Highlands – Aug. 31, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Held at the Spring Creek Festival Tent, the Taste of the Highlands features a Celtic lounge atmosphere where event goers can experience tastes of whisky, micro-brews and unique wines. Tastings run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Scooter’s Bar will be available 7 p.m. – 11 p.m. Admission includes 10 taste tickets to start your night. (Adults Only)

Scotch Tastings at Scooter’s Bar – Sept. 1, 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Next to the Spring Creek Festival Tent, Scooter’s Bar provides a unique tasting experience featuring a choice of premium and ultra-premium single malts (Adults Only). In addition to purchasing a ticket for a tasting, you must also have a Games entry ticket.

The Canmore Ceilidh – Sept. 1 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

This evening event at the Spring Creek Festival Tent brings a full night of Celtic entertainment celebrating music, dance and song. On tap as the headline act, The Rollin Drones close out the night with a dynamic performance. This 6-piece bagpipe pop band from Glasgow, specializes in taking modern songs and infusing them with traditional flavour. Additional acts include Seanachie, Irish Step Dancers, Highland Dancers and a special guest appearance by the Slainte Social Club Pipe Band.

Scots and wannabe Scots at the Highland Games

Come to learn about new sports, listen to music and taste new foods with the stunning backdrop of the Rockies. Advance Tickets and Bundles are available live on the website’s Tickets page. Admission starts at $12 ($6.25 for children) and includes all daytime events taking place in Centennial Park, except for the afternoon Scotch Tasting on Sunday, which requires an additional ticket. Evening ticketed events include the Taste of the Highlands ($33.75) and the Canmore Ceilidh ($55.50).

The organizers have arranged free, secure off-site parking just off the #1 TransCanada Highway at Exit 89. Free shuttle buses will operate on both days to and from Centennial Park from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Volunteers for all areas are still required. Volunteers receive free admittance to the Canmore Highland Games, gift bag, T-Shirt and a free meal. Duties include event set-up and take down. Sign up online at: canmorehighlandgames.ca/volunteering “It’s thrilling to see Scots and wannabe Scots at the Highland Games celebrating the music, food and sports of the culture. I love when people hear the bagpipes for the first time and fall in love with Celtic music, and when they enjoy the traditional sports, and Highland dancing,” Bunch says.

For the full schedule and online tickets, visit the website at: www.canmorehighlandgames.ca.

Main photo: Massed Pipe Bands in the Rocky Mountains at the Canmore Highland Games. Photo: © CanmoreAlberta.com.

 

The idea that water can heal is older than any written record or folk memory. Across the world and in all eras, drinking, bathing in, or ritually using water as a way to banish a malady or restore vitality is a universal practice. In Scotland, this practice transcended cultural and religious paradigms and endures well into today, as seen every Hogmanay when thousands take a cold plunge into the sea to symbolise an annual reawakening. No iteration of this water-worship, however, carries quite the symbolic potency as the practice of drawing water from healing wells.

The reality of such places is quite different from what you may imagine. Overwhelmingly, healing wells were not built-up receptacles – the word ‘well’ is perhaps misleading, as most were really springs or, in many cases, natural vessels where water accumulated with no source of it within them. In the Gaelic-speaking world, such places can be identified on maps by the word tobairt or tobar. A great deal of them survive only in place names, having long since dried up or been destroyed by plough and sprawl. Often, what appears on a map to be a distinct and easily identifiable location proves to be badly overgrown or obscured, prompting a search through bracken and nettles.

Healing wells have their origins in pre-Christian antiquity. Animism was the prevailing belief of Scotland’s ancient peoples, and this remains a vital way through which Gaels relate to the landscapes and storyscapes of their homelands. Almost any burn, river, waterfall, cave pool, or pond had beings who guarded it and dispensed its benefits and dangers to those who sought them. When early Christian saints such as Columba, Cuthbert, and Blane learned of local traditions around water bodies, they began a process of syncretism in which old deities were paralleled with new ones. So, a spring with restorative properties which once may have been the domain of a water-spirit was imbued with the power of a saint and became identified with them. It was only, so far as we know, after this process of Christianisation that such water sources became exclusively known for their healing properties.

Miraculous properties

What kind of afflictions did people go to healing wells to cure? A series of sites around the eastern reaches of Loch Tay in Highland Perthshire are perfectly illustrative. A stone-lined spring across the River Tay from Taymouth Castle called An Tobar was especially renowned for curing toothache. Its stones have veins of white quartz, a sacred material thought to hold miraculous properties. Another nearby called Tobar Nan Dileag (Well of Drips) remedied whooping cough, a common affliction for children throughout the Middle Ages. Rainwater which pooled in a natural cavity atop a boulder at Fearnan, known as Clach-na-Cruich (Stone of the Vessel), was especially for curing measles. Waters collected in clefts in prominent stones were believed to be particularly effective for treating that condition.

The list of illnesses which a healing well could remedy is as long as the number of tragedies and nuisances any pre-modern community might deal with – rheumatism, consumption, warts, smallpox, headaches, tumours, dementia, and so on. The key to getting the maximum benefit from the waters was not as simple as imbibing them, however. How and when a person used a healing well, and the way the location was treated by the community, could make all the difference.

Certain times of year were seen as being especially effective. The 1^st of May was particularly fortuitous, coinciding with a key turning point of the year. Sunrise and sunset were the optimal times of day to seek them, especially if it coincided with a celestial event such as a full moon or solstice. Small offerings of coins, cloth, or personal affects were often left at the wells, and on approach to them people would enact rituals such as walking silently around the well several times before drawing from its waters.

Ancient boundary

The location of the well mattered, too. Healing wells located at the ancient boundary between two territories were among the most sought-out, as were wells in locations primed to optimise the spectacle of the rising sun or where traditional held there to be a fairy mound or sacred site nearby. Some places held inherent specialness by virtue of their liminal nature existing as middle-grounds between worlds. Water dripping from certain caves, for instance, was thought to be extremely potent, as were wells located at the foot of venerated hills such as St Mary’s Well at the base of the Eildons in the Scottish Borders. The fact that ancient artefacts such as Bronze Age axeheads are frequently found near such healing wells is testament to the enduring belief in their locations’ significance.

Conversely, it was possible for healing wells to lose their powers. Allowing an animal such as a cow to drink directly from one would instantly nullify its properties. Washing one’s dirty hands in a healing well caused this, too. Loss of healing powers could also occur if the stream which a healing well sat alongside was diverted, or if a structure was built too close in proximity to it. The Reformation sought to quash the practice of healing wells, as it held them to be idolatrous. An Act of Parliament in 1581 decried the “pervers[e] inclination … of pilgrimage to sum chappellis wells”. This did little to curb everyday belief in their powers, however, in much the same way that the spread of Christianity did not erase peoples’ belief in decidedly undogmatic phenomenon such as faeries, water-horses, or household familiars known as brownies. In fact, some brownies were famously associated with sacred waters and healing wells, and their tempers determined how effective treatment would be.

Spiritual significance

By the late 17^th century, the source of healing wells’ power was held by some to be a matter of the chemical properties of the water. Certain flavours were sought out as being indicative of healing properties, notably heavily mineralised waters and peculiar flavours such as a smoky or even, perhaps counterintuitively to us, sulphurous notes. The latter was the case with St Bernard’s Well, perhaps Scotland’s best-known healing well thanks to its location along the high-traffic Water of Leith between Stockbridge and Dean Village in Edinburgh. A natural spring was found there by schoolboys in the 1760s and quickly gained fame for its waters, which tasted “like washings from a foul gun barrel”. The site had spiritual significance long before this, as the 12^th century monk St Bernard of Clairvaux is reputed to have lived in a nearby cave. The spring was capped by a Neoclassical temple adorned by a statue of the Greco-Roman goddess of hygiene, Hygieia, and was even visited by Dr Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s eponymous classic.

In the 19^th century the Victorian craze for mineral baths and spas took off, with mountain waters in places like Pitlochry piped into hydropathic hotels explicitly marketed for their healing and aesthetic qualities. The focus shifted firmly to the purity and mineralisation of the bath waters, with the older emphases on landscape context, visiting time, and imbibing rituals entirely removed. Meanwhile, many of the settlements around ancient healing wells were cleared of their people, the wells themselves falling into disuse and out of community memory. Yet, there are still hundreds of very old healing wells to be found across Scotland, from seemingly inauspicious bowls worn into boulders to moss-strewn pools quietly bubbling away on Highland and Lowland hillsides alike. Humble though many may be, they are one of the oldest connections we have to the relationship past peoples had with their landscapes, and to the universal human desire to alleviate the suffering of ourselves and those we love.

Words and images by: David C. Weinczok.

On 17-18 August 2024, Clans will gather once again at Kryal Castle, Ballarat to the haunting sound of a lone piper calling all to gather within its mighty walls as the Highland Spectacular returns for a second year. Last year saw 4,500 people attend over the weekend, an outstanding success for an inaugural event.

Range of activities

This year’s event promises to be even more spectacular. Kryal Castle will celebrate the 750^th anniversary of the birth of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots (from 1306 to 1329), with a mighty battle between the knights of England and Scotland on the tournament field. Lances will be smashed in the joust to prove once and for all that Scots are indeed the superior warriors. Witness ‘The Bruce’ demonstrate his prowess in the skill-at-arms riding his mighty steed against de Bohun and discover who the real William Wallace was with entertaining performances by the Castle players.

For those that have never been to Edinburgh for the Tattoo, this is as close as you can get outside of Scotland. See massed pipes and drums celebrating the music of Scotland on the main arena, enjoy spirited Highland dancing and be amazed by the burly lads and lasses from Highland Muscle displaying incredible feats of strength including caber tossing, hammer throw and other expositions of superhuman highland strength.  Simon Abney-Hastings, the 15^th Earl of Loudoun, returns as the Chief of the Day. The Earl attended the coronation of Charles III, officially presenting golden spurs to His Majesty the King during the ceremony. The featured Clan for the event will of course be Clan Bruce.

This year there are even more Clan tents with information about ancestry and the origins of families in Scotland. There will be vendors selling kilts and Scottish regalia, haggis, potato scones, whisky and other delicious Scottish fare. For the animal lovers, there will be Highland ponies, a Highland cow and the noble deerhound display.  Saturday evening features a Highland Feast with haggis and other fine Scottish culinary delights. Accompanying the delicious food will be selected whiskys and a talk about the distilling and tasting notes. After dinner a ceilidh with the stirring Hebridean tunes of Auld Alliance who will also teach you traditional dances.

Family friendly

The kids will have plenty on offer to keep them entertained with the knight’s school, archery, demonstrations, face painting, spell casting and potions in the wizard’s tower, displays and hands-on learning. Entry also includes access to the dragon’s labyrinth, the knight’s tower and throne room. Creative director for the event, Andrew McKinnon, is immensely proud of the inaugural event and excited about seeing the event grow in 2024.  Andrew said: “We saw thousands of people attend the event from the huge Scots diaspora around Ballarat in 2023. My hope is that we can attract more proud Scots from wider afield. Kryal Castle is only an hour from Melbourne. To see all the amazing attractions in a Castle setting re ally makes this the closest thing to being in Scotland. Let’s not forget Ballarat has its own tartan!”

A proud history

The Scots have a proud history in the Ballarat area. Many were attracted by the goldrush and were motivated to emigrate by poverty, famine and social upheaval. The city of Ballarat was first surveyed by William Swan Urquhart, born in Ross Shire, Scotland in 1818. Scottish emigrants took to the opportunities provided by early 19^th century Ballarat, becoming merchants, foundry men, bankers, investors, pastoralists, and mine or business managers.  Their success can be seen in the number of Scots who became notable in public life and for their benevolence in public institutions such as schools, hospitals and public buildings. Notably, statues of both William Wallace and Robert Burns adorn the streets of Ballarat. A sizeable proportion of those attending the inaugural event were from the large Scots diaspora residing near Ballarat and in the Central Highlands region of Victoria.

Kryal Castle Highland Spectacular tickets are all-inclusive and on sale now. Ticket numbers are limited and are prepurchase only, no tickets will be available at the gate. Tickets are available from the Kryal Castle website, www.kryalcastle.com.au. The Highland Spectacular is proudly presented by Kryal Castle.

Edinburgh’s Lord Provost has officially opened this year’s incarnation of the Floral Clock. Work has finished to complete this year’s design on the world’s oldest Floral Clock in Edinburgh’s West Princes Street Gardens. For 2024, the hugely popular landmark celebrates 200 years of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). A team of three gardeners took just six weeks to plant over 35,000 flowers and plants used to create the clock, which will be in bloom until October. There are 20 different plants included in this year’s design such as antennaria, crassula, echevaria, sedum, saxifrage and annuals such as pyrethrum, begonias and geraniums. Former Botanical Services Manager, David Dorward, has been planting the clock for 42 years, and despite being retired he continues to return to supervise the effort and to train new staff members in the tradition.

The Floral Clock was first created in 1903 by then Edinburgh Parks Superintendent, John McHattie, and is the oldest of its kind in the world. It initially operated with just an hour hand, with a minute hand added in 1904, followed by a cuckoo clock in 1952. Until 1972 the clock was operated mechanically and had to be wound daily. Since 1946 it has been designed in honour of various organisations and individuals, including the Girl Guides Association, Robert Louis Stevenson and the Queen, for her Golden Jubilee. In the clock’s centenary year in 2003 it won a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Saving lives at sea

The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh Robert Aldridge said: “It’s important that we honour organisations and individuals that have a positive impact on our communities. The RNLI volunteers and staff work tirelessly to save lives at sea daily, and after 200 years they have saved over 146,000 lives. I’d like to thank our fantastic colleagues who have been working on this year’s Floral Clock that we see before us. It is a very special occasion to be here today to recognise the impact they have made on thousands of lives, through the 2024 floral clock.”

Associate Director of the RNLI, Angela Rook said: “It is a great honour for the RNLI to feature in this year’s Princes Street Gardens Floral Clock, in what is a defining year in our history. For 200 years, selfless volunteers around the UK and Ireland have been saving lives at sea. Our crew and volunteers are the lifeblood of our charity; from our fundraisers who work so hard in funding our lifesaving mission, to our water safety volunteers who deliver vital messaging to help keep people safe – they will all be thrilled to be recognised in this way. It is our hope that those passing by this incredible floral display will take a moment to commemorating those who have gone before us, celebrate the contribution of our dedicated volunteers, and help us inspire the next generation of lifesavers as we look forward to saving lives at sea for the next 200 years.”

The RNLI have 46 lifeboats stations in Scotland, and two of the busiest are operated entirely by volunteers, at Queensferry and Kinghorn. These Lifeboat Stations responded to a combined 172 calls in 2023, rescuing 158 people. On Monday 4 March 2024, the RNLI marked its 200^th anniversary, two centuries of lifesaving that has seen over 146,000 lives being saved. The charity saves lives at sea through lifeboat search and rescue, lifeguards, water safety education and flood rescue.

Returning for the 37^th celebration, the Celtic Classic is the largest free Celtic festival in North America. Presenting the U.S. National Highland Games Championship means the top ten professional highland athletes will be competing for the title.  Also featured is Grade 3 and Grade 4 pipe band competitions, more than forty Celtic retail merchants, and Celtic Heritage Hollow with Clan Village, lectures, demonstrations and children’s activities.

Opening ceremonies will include the Showing of the Tartan Parade through Historic Downtown Bethlehem, concluding on Highland Field.  Visitors will enjoy five stages of world-renowned Celtic music featuring Ally the Piper, The Byrne Brothers, The Prodigals, Conor Mallon, On the Lash and many more.  Thirty food vendors will tempt you with a variety of treats from fish-n-chips, pasties, bangers & mash to bratwurst, corn on the cob, poutine and much more.

The Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival will take place in Bethlehem, PA, September 27^th – 29^th  2024, for more information see: www.celticfest.org.

It will be 80 years this month since Aberdeen’s John Alexander Cruickshank won the Victoria Cross for incredible heroism during a raid on a German U-boat. Remarkably, John is still alive at 104, the last surviving VC recipient from the Second World War and one of Aberdeen’s war hero’s. John Alexander Cruickshank is no ordinary Scotsman. On the contrary, the Victoria Cross he was awarded 80 years ago this summer marks him out as somebody special, not that you would ever guess it from meeting such a modest individual. In plain terms, he is the Aberdonian who sank a German U-boat, defied being injured more than 70 times, and flew himself and his comrades back to Sullom Voe during the Second World War. It sounds like a Boy’s Own storyline and the ordeal faced by Mr Cruickshank during a mission over Norway in 1944 was highlighted in a Commando-style cartoon strip in the 1980s.

One of the most audacious acts of the conflict

The former Aberdeen Grammar school pupil was involved in one of the most audacious acts of the conflict when he steered his Catalina aircraft through a torrential hail of flak. And, although his first pass was unsuccessful, he brought it around for a second sortie, this time straddling a U-boat and sinking the vessel. However, the German anti-aircraft fire proved fatally accurate in response, killing the navigator and injuring four others, including both Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank and Flight Sergeant Jack Garnett. The Granite City pilot, who was just 24, suffered scores of different injuries while he and his comrades were engaged in sinking the German submarine, and, although they had succeeded in their first objective, there was another huge task in trying to return home safely to Shetland. From a distance of 80 years, it still seems miraculous that Mr Cruickshank survived in the hours which followed.

He was hit in 72 places and suffered serious lung injuries and 10 penetrating wounds to his lower limbs. Yet, despite this panoply of pain, he refused medical attention until he was sure that the appropriate radio signals had been sent and the aircraft was on course for its home base. Even at that stage, he eschewed morphine, aware that it would cloud his judgement and potentially jeopardise the rest of the men on board. Flying through the night, it took the damaged craft five-and-a-half hours to get back to Sullom Voe, with Flt Sgt Garnett at the controls and his colleague lapsing in and out of consciousness.

Incredible bravery

Eventually, though, as another major hurdle came into the equation, he returned to the cockpit and took command of the aircraft. And after deciding that the light and the sea conditions for a water landing were too risky for his inexperienced colleague, Mr Cruickshank kept the craft in the air for as long he could, circling for an extra hour, as the prelude to bringing it down successfully on the water and ferrying the plane to an area where it could be safely beached. It was an astonishing act of bravery, and yet Mr Cruickshank has always shunned the limelight or refused to take any credit for his actions. As one of his RAF colleagues later recalled, he felt he was one of the lucky ones to survive the conflict, unlike so many of his friends who perished.

The Press and Journal reported in 1944 how Mr Cruickshank had become the recipient of the VC and carried the details of the citation which outlined why he had been given the honour. It said: “Flying Officer Cruickshank was struck in seventy-two places, receiving two serious wounds in the lungs and 10 penetrating wounds in the lower limbs. His aircraft was badly damaged and filled with the fumes of exploding shells. “But he did not falter. He pressed home his attack, and released the depth charges himself, straddling the submarine perfectly. The U-boat was sunk.”

Those of us who attended the First World War production Far, Far from Ypres at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen in 2018 could scarcely have imagined we had a real-life hero in our midst. However, sitting there, in the audience, was Mr Cruickshank, who appeared rather abashed when the MC announced he was present.

One of his friends said later: “I had the privilege of meeting him at a dinner and it was an unforgettable experience for everybody who was there. There was a stunned silence for 45 minutes while he spoke, because everyone present recognised the incredible bravery which he had demonstrated. And yet, one of the things which struck us was that he didn’t want a big fuss made about it. After everything he had endured, when he regained consciousness in the Catalina, the first thing he said was: ‘How are my crew?’”

There aren’t many of these brave men left from the Second World War. But they deserve our utmost respect.

By: Neil Drysdale.

 

Warwick, Queensland, has reason to celebrate as four talented young men from the Warwick Thistle Pipe Band have secured coveted spots to perform at this year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (REMT), the world’s largest event of its kind. The region is punching above its weight with four of the 75 musicians selected globally for the Tattoo’s international REMT Pipes and Drums’ band coming from Warwick. They will be part of the 700 strong cast performing 26 shows to around 9,000 people a night at Edinburgh Castle, with the show being broadcast to millions around the world later in the year.

The young men went through a two-stage video audition process, with Nic McGahan and Rory Macfarlane showcasing their skills as pipers, while Josh Hullock and Kweller Manfield demonstrating their drumming talents as tenor and snare drummers, respectively.  Kweller said, “As the audition was open to all pipers and drummers from around the world, a high standard was expected, which included not only playing, but also showing I could march – there’s lots of choreography which we learn during the week of rehearsals when we arrive in Edinburgh’. He said he has ‘been blown away by the well wishes and support from people in our community who have seen media posts and come up to me, and that’s a great feeling.”

Being in a pipe band opens doors

Nic has successfully auditioned for a second year in a row for the international band as he ‘loved it so much he couldn’t wait to return.’ He said, “You can’t put a price on this experience” where he has made life-long friendships with performers from all over the world.  Three of the group joined ranks with Brisbane Boys’ College Pipe (BBC) Pipe Band performing at the 2022 Tattoo. Rory has great memories from that experience and said he is honoured to be selected this time. He said; “A highlight was when you first perform each night entering through the smoke over the castle draw bridge all playing and the crowd erupts as they see and hear the roar of the massed pipes and drums – it is hard to beat.”

Josh shared that this experience will be one of the best of his life and is continually amazed, he added  “That being in a pipe band opens doors you didn’t even know could be opened.” He performed with BBC in 2022 and said, “It is nerve racking initially, and in the end, you are sleeping to the sounds of piping.”

All four musicians were also members of Scots PGC College Pipes and Drums during their school years, highlighting a longstanding commitment to their musical journey from an early age. Thomas Crawford, current student from Scots PGC College, has also been selected to join the ranks of BBC Pipe Band at this years’ Tattoo. Their success underscores the supportive environment and high standard of tuition provided by both the Warwick Thistle Pipe Band and Scots PGC College. Generous sponsorship from John Dee Warwick, Club Warwick RSL and the Warwick Country Women’s Association has been instrumental in making this opportunity easier for these talented musicians. Alexander Manfield, Thistle Pipe Sergeant, said that it is heartening to see such support from the community and businesses for our local pipe band as it allows our members to open a world of performance and competition possibilities.

Main photo: Rory Macfarlane, Josh Hullock and Nic McGahan.  

Two hundred years ago the first virtual-reality experiences were born in Edinburgh, not from digital technologies, but from the mastery of painted perspective, the control of space and light and an understanding of the psychology of human perception.  The world’s first panorama, a dramatic Edinburgh cityscape dating back to 1788,  is on display in a free public exhibition in Edinburgh. In a 21^st century twist, viewers will get to experience the painting using a virtual reality headset, bringing the Georgian skyline to life with immersive techniques.

The Barker Panorama of Edinburgh from Calton Hill is rarely on public show and is just one of the pieces in the exhibition Panoramas: The World in 360°. The work spans more than three metres and offers a 360-degree vantage of the city with the Pentlands and the Forth in the distance.

The University of Edinburgh Library show includes a viewing rotunda, allowing visitors to appreciate the full scope of the innovative cylindrical paintings. Artist Robert Barker, originally from Ireland, first created his panorama with the help of his son, Henry Aston Barker, and was granted a patent for his invention of “an entire view of any country or situation as it appears…so as to make observers feel as if really on the very spot.”  The Barkers went on to form a company and showed their works at a purpose-built rotunda in London London’s Leicester Square which created a sensation in the early 1790s and, over a span of 70 years,  showed scenes from London to New Zealand that were so realistic they reportedly made Queen Charlotte “feel sea-sick”.

Exciting moment in the city’s urban history

Exhibition organisers say the Barker panorama captures an exciting moment in the city’s urban history as it shows the first gridded streets that would form the planned Georgian New Town, alongside its medieval Old Town. Amongst the other historic gems on show are a celebrated print of Constantinople, and the royal patent awarded to Robert Barker by King George III in 1787. The exhibition is now open at the University of Edinburgh Library on George Square. It will run until the end of September and forms part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.

Elizabeth Quarmby Lawrence, Rare Books and Literary Collections Curator at the University of Edinburgh Library, said:  “The panorama was astonishing to its original audiences, who were often overcome by the realism of the experience. We are hoping that this exhibition will capture a little of the original magic, and make it easier to imagine seeing it through their eyes.”

The exhibition explores the panorama’s history and gives visitors a chance to taste the experience of its very first visitors. Zita Takacs, University of Edinburgh student and uCreate Makerspace Student Technician, added: “Smartphones have made panoramas easy for us all to capture and to share but they were really cutting-edge at the time of invention. I hope that virtual reality will inject the sense of immersion into the painting that was felt by viewers in the 18^th century.”

Main photo: Conservator Amanda Dodd makes repairs to one of the panoramas on display: Henry Aston Barker’s Panorama of Constantinople.

Marine scientists at Heriot-Watt University working hand-in-glove with an extensive team of volunteers have successfully reintroduced a further 16,000 oysters into the Firth of Forth as part of an ambitious restoration project. European flat oysters were once abundant in the estuary but were fished out of existence around 100 years ago.   Now, the marine conservation project, Restoration Forth, is aiming to deposit 30,000 of the sea creatures back into the Forth to create a new oyster reef, providing a vital habitat for many other species including fish, crabs, sea snails and sponges.

Recently, 220 volunteers have participated in a series of oyster cleaning events, including at Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh campus, where dirt was carefully removed to help prevent the spread of unwanted hitchhikers, non-native to the Forth. In addition, volunteers ‘glued’ many of the molluscs together using a form of harmless putty to mimic natural oyster clumps and attach these to ropes so scientists can monitor their growth and determine how well they survive in their new home.The oysters have been collected from Little Loch Broom in Ullapool. It is the second batch of young oysters to be released into waterway with the first 4,000 introduced by the project last autumn.

Restoring healthy oyster beds

Research assistant Naomi Kennon from the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society at Heriot-Watt University, who helped coordinate the volunteers, said: “It’s no exaggeration that without the volunteers giving their time to help with cleaning the oysters, as well as helping set up the monitoring experiments , this project just couldn’t happen. The support received from the community has been incredible; volunteers are so passionate, and have worked so hard to help. It has really been inspiring to see so many people from different walks of life come together to contribute to this project. It takes a lot of hours to process thousands of oysters, so that no damaging hitchhikers or diseases enter the waters unintentionally.  As well as cleaning, this year we’ve ‘glued’ many of the oysters using a form of harmless putty to mimic natural oyster clumps and attached many to stings so we can monitor their growth and how well they survive in their new home.”

European flat oysters are important to waters in Scotland, helping to filter water and providing complex habitats.  For hundreds of years, the Firth of Forth was home to a massive oyster bed that was roughly the same size as Edinburgh is today and supported local fishing communities.  Sadly, this oyster bed and most others around Europe were lost due to overfishing.  At its peak in the 1800’s, 30 million oysters were taken from the Firth of Forth each year for a ten-year period to be used for food and exported around Britain and northern Europe.This rate of demand wiped out their populations from our shores in a matter of decades. Projects like Restoration Forth are now working with communities to restore this important species and allow underwater ecosystems to thrive once again.  Recent research has suggested that by restoring healthy oyster beds biodiversity could double over ten-years.

Main photo image courtesy of WWF.

In the next few weeks, there will be much talk of “disaster” and “tragedy” in some newspapers if participants at the Olympic Games drop a relay baton or fail to reach their personal best. In truth, such words should not be employed when talking about sport and certainly not as the Games return to Paris 100 years after Scotland’s Eric Liddell took his principled stand not to compete on a Sunday due to his devout religious beliefs. It might have cost him one or even two gold medals – but Liddell, an Edinburgh University graduate, who also represented his country on the rugby field in dynamic fashion, was adamant about his priorities as a missionary whatever the cost. And he still stuck to them 20 years later when he sacrificed himself during the Second World War to save the life of a pregnant woman.

The Scottish all-round sporting star was one of the greatest of his generation and his story was captured in the Oscar-winning film, Chariots of Fire, directed by David Puttnam, which featured the magical music of Vangelis and the famous scene where athletes trained on the beach at St Andrews.

And, though it’s nearly 80 years since he died at just 43, his strong principles will be celebrated once again when the Olympic torch is lit and the world stops for a fortnight to pay attention. In the film, which took a few liberties with the truth, Liddell was boarding a boat to the 1924 Paris Olympic Games when he discovered the qualifying heats for the 100m sprint, were scheduled for Sunday. As a Christian, he had known the schedule for months in advance and decided not to take part in the 100m, the 4×100m relay and the 4×400m relay because they all required running on a Sunday. Sections of the press were livid and even described his decision as “unpatriotic”, but Liddell devoted his training to the 200m and the 400m, races that would not require him to break the Sabbath. And, once he was in the thick of the action, he rose to the occasion, winning a bronze medal in the 200m and then, memorably, surging to the 400m title in a world-record time.

Crowning moment in sport

On the morning of the final, July 11 1924, Liddell was handed a folded square of paper by one of the team masseurs. Reading it later, he found the message: “In the old book it says: ‘He that honours me I will honour.’ Wishing you the best of success always.”

Recognising the Biblical reference, Liddell was profoundly moved that someone other than his coach believed in him and the stance he had taken. The pipe band of the 51^st Highland Brigade played outside the stadium for the hour before he ran. The 400m had long been considered a middle-distance event in which runners raced round the first bend before coasting down the back straight. However, inspired by the message, and deprived of a view of the other runners because he drew the outside lane, Liddell raced the whole of the first 200 metres to be well clear of the Americans. It was his crowning moment in sport. But there were plenty of other things in his life.

After quitting athletics, Liddell returned to China, where he had been born, to continue his family’s missionary work. He died there in 1945 in a Japanese internment camp. Under a prisoner-exchange deal, he could have left the camp, but relinquished this opportunity so the pregnant woman could go in his place. In his last letter to his wife, written on the day he died, Liddell talked about suffering a nervous breakdown. He had an undiagnosed brain tumour; and the cumulative impact of overwork and malnourishment hastened his death. One of his colleagues later wrote: “The entire camp, especially its youth, was stunned for days, so great was the vacuum that Eric’s death had left.” That’s real heroism and his demise was a genuine tragedy. But Eric Liddell’s name will live forever in Scotland’s sporting lore.

Text by Neil Drysdale.

Main photo: The iconic St Andrews beach run scene in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.

Fairbanks, Alaska is home to the farthest north pipe band in the United States. The Red Hackle Pipe Band is celebrating 50 years as a band this year and amongst its members is a Scottish piper. Angus Smith grew up in Perthshire and played for the Black Watch, he also worked in the stunning Scottish Highlands before settling in wild Alaska and keeping his life of bagpipes alive in the arctic, as James Bartlett explains.

Unless there is anyone at a research station or on an expedition, it is quite possible that Angus Smith is the nearest Scottish bagpiper to the North Pole.  Angus, 56, has lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, for close to 20 years, and this city of some 32,000 people is where he began what he jokingly calls his “North American Tour.” Born in the tiny village of Dale in Southern Pembrokeshire, Wales, where his father had taken a temporary job blasting oil silos, the new family returned to their native home of Crieff in Perthshire when Angus was just a few months old.

A lifelong love with the instrument

Angus seemed to be a particularly loud child, and laughs when he recalls: “It all started around the age of seven, when I was making too much noise in the house. Father took me by the ear to the backdoor, and said I could choose one of three possible words: fiddle, accordion or pipes. For me it was the latter.” This began a lifelong love with the instrument, and today, over half a decade later and following a long spell in the famous Black Watch of the Royal Highland Regiment, he continues to play regularly in his newfound home at the centre of the Alaskan Interior.

“I spent all my schooling at Morrisons Academy playing in their band and CCF, and at 16 I joined the Junior Army at IJLB (Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion) in Shorncliffe. It was lucky I could play really, as my report cards said things like “Angus – a nice wee chap, but alas will never set the Academic Heather alight!”

He took the colours of the Black Watch at Kirknewton in 1985, but after four years he was looking for a new challenge, and he became a “pony man” on an estate in the Southern Cairngorms. “The bothy I lived in was the highest inhabitable place in the UK, which, now I think of it, was good training for a future in Alaska!” He worked in deer management as a stalker at Glen Etive – a location known for its connection to Ian Fleming of James Bond fame – and then at the Tarbert Estate on the Isle of Jura, but then he ‘began looking for an escape’.

“There was a fantastic piper and drumming website, BobDunsire.com – that man should have been knighted for his services to piping – and it had a list of every band throughout the world, and in the world of deer stalking one would always hear great tales of Alaska, so I put my thoughts together.”

Red Hackle Pipe Band

Fairbanks was home to the Red Hackle Pipe Band, and, after taking some advice from Steve Small, another former Black Watch piper who was known for playing in the rain during the 1997 handover of Hong Kong and was then the Senior Instructor at Edinburgh Castle, Angus set out for the Far North, arriving in Fairbanks in 2004. Describing life in Alaska, a huge landmass that is often unfamiliar to many, Angus notes that as a deerstalker, his eye and mind were often consumed with the fine detail of the lay and fold of the land.

“In Alaska your mind is in overdrive, with a never-ending horizon. The solitude and scale of it is truly mighty. Oh, she can and will kill you in a heartbeat: there are raging rivers, predators, -40 degree cold and more, but you quietly are always prepared.”

Angus joined the American military – or what he calls “Uncle Sammy’s Infantry” – in 2009 and spent time in Afghanistan in 2012, then after leaving their service in 2013 he got his powerplant rating and qualified to work as a mechanic for Everts Air, a family-owned business in Fairbanks that flies DC-6 and C-46 and other aircraft, hauling fuel and cargo out to towns and villages in the remote bush.

“Our moto is ‘Legendary Aircraft Extraordinary Service’, which I’ve always thought should have included ‘and Characters!’ he laughs. He had landed safely and happily in his musical life too.  “The Red Hackles were home from home to an ex-Black Watch piper like me,” he says, noting that they are currently celebrating their 50^th anniversary. “We perform regularly, though there’s always more action in the summer,” he explains.

Foster Scots culture

From mid-May until mid-July, Fairbanks sees 24 hours of “midnight sun” every day, and barely any darkness until the end of August. “We gather most weeks upon an evening, and we might be one of the few bands left, certainly in America, that field dancers in band uniform. We also encourage and foster Scots culture, and educate the younger generation in the form of piping, drumming and dancing.”

Angus feels he has been especially lucky with his band, as many can be “a battlefield of egos,” and he notes that their ‘next door neighbour’ band in Anchorage (Anchorage being some 350 miles from Fairbanks, and ten times the population) are “Always bickering. Hell, if they all came together, they would field a Grade 1 band!”

Around Fairbanks, Angus is known by his unique personalized number plate 1BW (for Black Watch), and he met his wife Kimberly, who hails from Long Island, New York, and now works in behavioural health, when he was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.  Angus however has not come across many other Scottish people in Alaska, and says that he tries to return to Scotland every year to see his mother, who suffers from dementia.  “I think I miss the characters that abounded in the Highlands: stalkers, shepherds, crofters and islanders – they’re a colourful bunch – but I love it here, and the band has given much nurturing care and attention to ‘Project Angus’, I can tell you!”

Red Hackle Pipe Band photos courtesy of Bleep Media Productions.

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland explores Scotland’s critical position on the frontline of the Cold War. Over 190 objects, many on display for the first time, will be brought together in Cold War Scotland (running to 26 Jan 2025) to tell the stories of the Scots at the centre of this global conflict. Scotland’s unique geography and topography provided a useful base for Allied military preparations and research during the Cold War, a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union following the end of the Second World War. Atomic power brought jobs and investment to some of the country’s most remote areas, but as global tensions mounted the threat of attack or nuclear disaster became part of everyday life. Now on, Cold War Scotland will explore both the visible and invisible legacies of the war in Scotland.

The impact of the war still lingers in Scottish politics, culture and memory. Scots played an active role in the global conflict as soldiers, for example, within intelligence services and as part of voluntary civil defences. The exhibition will also draw on Scotland’s rich history of Cold War-era protest and activism. Firsthand accounts include a young mother who decorated her daughter’s pram with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) badges. A rattle made from an old laundry detergent bottle emblazoned with the CND logo was given to her baby during the Peace Marches of the early 1980s and will go on display in the exhibition.

The exhibition will also reveal the physical remains of the Cold War; the ruined bases, forgotten bunkers and decommissioned nuclear power stations still evident across the Scottish landscape. This infrastructure became part of the fabric of local communities, none more so than the US-controlled radar base at Edzell in Angus, now commemorated with its own bespoke tartan.

Cold War heritage

Dr Meredith Greiling, Principal Curator of Technology at National Museums Scotland, said:  “From nuclear submarines to lively peace protests and observation stations perpetually monitoring for devastating attack, the Cold War permeated every aspect of life in Scotland for decades. This conflict is so often remembered on a global scale, but this thought-provoking exhibition will offer a Scottish perspective of the period, allowing Scots from all walks of life to tell their remarkable stories for the first time.”

Further highlights of the exhibition include artwork from Glasgow’s 1951 Exhibition of Industrial Power and a toy nuclear power station, operated by steam and hot to the touch when played with. Both these examples highlight the spirit of optimism, progress and modernity associated with atomic energy in postwar Britain. In contrast, a Geiger counter used by farmers in East Ayrshire to test for radiation in sheep following the Chernobyl Disaster illustrates the enduring but unseen impact of the Cold War on Scotland’s landscape.

Cold War Scotland is an output of Materialising the Cold War, a collaborative research project between National Museums Scotland and the University of Stirling. The project explores how the Cold War heritage is represented and how museums can adapt to tell this story in future. Materialising the Cold War is funded by a major grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Cold War Scotland runs to 26 January 2025 at the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, admission is free. For more information: www.nms.ac.uk/ColdWarScotland.

Main photo: Polaris Demonstration at Holy Loch, 3rd Feb 1961 Image Trinity Mirror Mirrorpix Alamy Stock Photo.

The new Perth Museum open its doors earlier this year after a £27 million development project. This world-class cultural and heritage attraction highlights the fascinating objects and stories that put Perth and Kinross at the centre of Scotland’s story. At its heart sits the Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, one of Scotland and the UK’s most significant historical objects. The Scottish Banner spoke to João Philippe Reid, Exhibitions and Interpretation Manager, at Perth Museum on some of the many attractions found at the museum and why you should include Perth on your next visit to Scotland.

Perth Museum recently opened its doors after an exciting £27m redevelopment of the former city hall. Can you tell us the background to the new Perth Museum?

JPR: The driver for a new museum came about from a number of different needs – there was a recognition that the nature of high street economies has been changing; that a recalibration away from retail-dependency is really important to create thriving urban spaces. There was also an understanding that Perth & Kinross’ nationally significant museum collections were untapped and limited by a lack of display space (there are some astonishing objects in the collection which have been off public display for decades). Finally, there was a huge, empty building at the very heart of the city centre – a building which historically had played a prominent role in the life of Perth but which by the time the project really got going in 2017, had been blighting its environment for over a decade.

And the site is an important part of the museum ethos – that building, and its predecessor have been the social, political and cultural heart of the city for 180 years – everything from political rallies, gigs, record sales, dance competitions, school concerts, and wrestling matches happened there and there’s a very profound sense of identification with the building from local communities. Visitors regularly come in and say things like, ‘my grandparents met at a dance in this building’ or ‘I played clarinet in a school concert on the stage here.’ In this, the museum is a perfect vehicle to explore the stories of this place.

The new Museum’s centrepiece is the Stone of Destiny. Can you tell us about the history of the Stone of Destiny and why this is such a coup for the Museum to house?

JPR: The Stone is a symbol of power and has been for hundreds of years. It is also an object of ongoing contention, for Scots it is a symbol of Scottish nationhood, for others it is symbolic of the integration of the crowns of England and Scotland and the Union – and it has gone backwards and forwards over the border a few times since it was first seized in 1296.

The Stone of Scone (Stone of Destiny is a later name that became very fashionable with the Victorians) refers to the inauguration Stone, a superficially innocuous block of sandstone that new monarchs were inaugurated on at Scone Abbey, an important royal centre a few miles north of Perth. The monarch-to-be, surrounded by bishops and nobles would sit on the Stone and be elevated to kingship (no queens were inaugurated on the Stone while it was in Scotland). When King Edward I of England invaded Scotland, he sacked Scone Abbey and removed the Stone in 1296, he commissioned a golden throne to house the Stone at Westminster Abbey in London. This is still known as the Coronation Chair and, with the Stone encased in it, Edward was making a clear political message: by sitting on this Stone, me and my heirs are the rulers of Scotland. The same chair (and of course the Stone) are still used in coronations of British monarchs today.

As a disputed object the Stone has attracted a lot of origin myths – some believe is ‘Jacob’s Pillow’, the stone on which the grandson of Abraham rested when he was shown a vision of a stairway to heaven. The English favoured this myth because it implied that their keeping of the Stone in London was the will of God. The Scots favoured a myth which traced the Stone’s origins to Scota, daughter of the Pharoah, who carried the Stone from Ancient Egypt to the Hill of Tara from where, centuries later, it was brought to Scone by the (traditional) first King of Scotland, Kenneth MacAlpin – this myth emphasised Scotland’s status of a longstanding independent realm in the face of English aggression. But there are many other myths, including ongoing arguments about authenticity – some people believe that the ‘real’ Stone is buried under Dunsinane Hill near Perth (of MacBeth fame) or even in a pub in Glasgow called The Arlington Bar.

Due to recent scientific analysis, we know that the Stone is red sandstone that was quarried a couple of miles outside Scone. From the patterns of wear on its surface, we also know that it would likely have been used as a step or threshold for an important ancient building, possibly retrieved from a Roman ruin.

The Stone of Destiny returned to Perthshire for the first time in over 700 years. Can you tell us what the logistics was like for this to take place and also for any future necessity to have the stone moved for ceremonial purposes?

JPR: Sadly I can’t. Security and logistics around movement of the Stone is extremely sensitive owing to the fact that it has been the target of repeated attempts of theft or damage (including as recently as 2023).

Apart from the Stone of Destiny the Museum holds more than 3,000 objects, spanning 10,000 years. Can you outline some of the other ‘must see’ items visitors can see at the Museum?

JPR: Perth holds one of the oldest public collections in the UK having been founded in 1784. It’s incredibly rich and diverse covering Natural History, Fine Art, Social History, archaeology, costume and World Cultures and numbering over half a million objects in total. Because of Scone and Perth’s prominence as an early royal centre and medieval economic hub, and because of distinct preservation conditions in the ground here, material survives that can paint a very rich picture of what life was like centuries ago. From 700-year-old children’s shoes and leather purses, to ivory combs and knives, the medieval collections are eye-opening. I particularly like an 13^th century old egg which was found during excavations of a medieval midden in the city centre. It looks like an egg you could buy at the supermarket today but has remained perfectly intact for over 700 years.

Some of the most impressive and imposing objects in the collection are the carved Pictish Stones which are between 1,000 and 1,500 years old. Often intricately decorated with animals and mysterious symbols, these huge monoliths once stood in the landscape as markers of church and secular power. The Picts, who were the predominate political force in early medieval eastern Scotland after the retreat of the Romans, also created astonishingly intricate and opulent jewellery, many examples of which are on display at the new museum.

Another example of opulence is a slashed silk doublet from the 1620s – this is an extremely rare survival. Effectively a gentleman’s jacket, this example, from a wealthy family in Highland Perthshire, is virtually unmatched in condition. It looks new and very few of these survive in a condition in which they can be even put on public display.

Perth Museum’s first exhibition is Unicorn. This is the first major UK exhibition to explore the cultural history of Scotland’s national animal from antiquity to the present day. Can you tell us how this exhibition came about and how visitors to Scotland this summer can enjoy this exhibition?

JPR: There are a few key themes in the museum’s permanent galleries around monarchy and symbols of power. We’re interested in how power articulates itself through symbols (like a 152kg block of sandstone or Pictish carved stones for example). Many countries have national animals and many of these first arose in the medieval period when dynasties were effectively attempting to ‘brand’ themselves – the kings of France opted for a Porcupine, Aragon and Castille for a Black Eagle and England for the Lion for example. In Scotland, King James I selected a Unicorn, wrapped in chains and wearing a crown collar – so the exhibition premise began with an interest in the circumstances in which a mythical creature came to be associated with Scottish monarchy.

The exhibition starts with this theme, looking at the use of the unicorn on Mercat crosses (market crosses still found across Scotland today), coins, books and in the iconography of the Union (the lion and the unicorn). But the exhibition expands to look at the history of unicorns, from the classical period through to the present day. We tell the story of this mythical creature through Italian Renaissance oil paintings, medieval illuminated manuscripts, narwhal tusks (which were traded as unicorn horns) and many other fascinating objects. But the exhibition is one of two halves, whilst the first galleries are focused on this creature’s use and representation in history, the final part of the exhibition explores contemporary culture’s continuing fascination with unicorns as pop cultural icons and as symbols of LGBTQ+ identity. These spaces feel very different and feature an amazing mass display sourced from local communities of pop cultural unicorns (such as ‘My Little Pony Unicorns’ or ‘The Last Unicorn’ posters) as well as a set of striking contemporary art commissions which explore the use of Unicorn iconography as a symbol of LGBTQ+ resilience and strength.

Since opening on March 30^th Perth Museum has already welcomed more than 50,000 visitors and been awarded a five-star visitor attraction status by the national tourism body, VisitScotland. How does that make the team behind the Museum feel to be acknowledged in this way by both the general public and tourism industry?

JPR: I think the team are really thrilled at the response to the new museum opening. We’re obviously still getting used to how the building operates now that it’s filled with people and learning about how things that we’ve been developing for years through blueprints and drawings, actually function in the real world. That’s been interesting and we’re trying to be very responsive to this phase where we’re learning what works best for visitors and the objects on display. There were a few areas of the development where we were trying something new and perhaps even, challenging (about how to tell the story of a particular object for example) and we’re really thrilled at the audience response to new ideas.

Scotland has a variety of world-class museums to visit. From learning more about the story of Scotland, to being a great place to get out of the weather, a day at the museum can be so rewarding. Why do you think it is important for a visitor to Scotland to include some museums in their itinerary?

JPR: Scotland’s is renowned for its stunning landscapes and vibrant cities, and these have been shaped by the people who have lived here. There is no better way of getting an understanding of place than through its museums – these are storehouses of stories and experiences – and there is no better route in to embracing the culture and life of a place than through its people – whether those are people living today or people hunting and gathering by riverbanks 10,000 years ago, or Roman soldiers standing guard over a border zone 2,000 years ago, or Victorian factory-workers, or Jacobite soldiers. Museums are places where experiences and stories over time come together.

For visitors who have yet to experience Perth or the surrounding Perthshire region, can you give us any recommendations for the first-time visitor to see (apart from the new Perth Museum of course!)?

JPR: Our sister venue, Perth Art Gallery, is just a couple of minutes’ walk from Perth Museum and houses an outstanding art collection including a newly completed exhibition on the important Scottish Colourist, J.D. Fergusson. Beyond that, given its close ties with the Stone of Destiny, Scone Palace (site of the now vanished Scone Abbey) is a great place to explore. Perthshire is home to some of the most iconic landscapes in Scotland, each one, resonating with history. From Mary Queen of Scots’ island prison of Loch Leven Castle to the recreation Iron Age village at the Scottish Crannog Centre by the banks of Loch Tay, from Lowland to Highland, Perth & Kinross has so much history and landscape to explore.

For more information on Perth Museum visit: perthmuseum.co.uk

Photos courtesy of Julie Howden and Culture Perth and Kinross.

 

The Gold Medal winners from last year’s Royal National Mòd in Paisley, Emma MacLeod and Iain Cormack, will attend Mòd Chesapeake in Maryland this August to celebrate the thriving Gaelic connection between Scotland and the USA. As part of their prize for winning the coveted Gold Medals for Gaelic song, the pair will act as ambassadors at the regional festival, taking place on Saturday 3^rd August 2024, and will perform and teach two workshops, as well as attending a celebratory dinner and cèilidh in the evening. Mòd Chesapeake, hosted by Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhòir, marks a significant milestone in the international outreach of the Royal National Mòd, emphasising its global footprint and fostering strong connections with diaspora communities.

Unite Gaelic communities worldwide

Founded in 2023, the link between An Comunn Gàidhealach and the Chesapeake Mòd represents a revival of the longstanding tradition of cultural exchange between Scottish and American Gaelic enthusiasts, rekindling the spirit of camaraderie and shared heritage, with Iain and Emma’s journey across the pond serving as a testament to the enduring bonds that unite Gaelic communities worldwide. Mòd Chesapeake was established by two local Gaelic groups – Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhòir in Baltimore and Gàidhlig Photomac who are based in both Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Regional Mòds continue to grow in the United States, with Mòd New York and Mòd Kentucky also starting in 2023, and the North Carolina Mòd and U.S. National Mòd already established.

At Mòd Chesapeake, attendees will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Gaelic language and song through a series of workshops tailored for both beginners and advanced learners. Led by experienced instructors, these workshops offer a unique avenue for participants to deepen their understanding of Gaelic culture and elevate their language skills.

Mòd Gold Medallist Emma MacLeod, who is originally from Scalpay, was already a Traditional Gold Medallist when she won at last year’s Mòd, completing a Gold double following her outstanding performance. Iain Cormack, who hails from Skye and now resides in Glasgow, comes from a long line of Mòd Gold Medallists, and sang the song his father sang 40 years ago when he won the Gold Medal himself. Liam Ó Caiside, co-founder and adjudicator of Mòd Chesapeake, co-organiser of Gàidhlig Photomac and President of An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach, said: “We are really delighted that Iain and Emma will be here in the States for Mòd Chesapeake this year. This will be our second regional Mòd in this region – between Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. Scottish Gaelic learners in the region will get great encouragement from this visit – it’s a big honour.

Gaelic ambassadors

“We at Mòd Chesapeake are very excited to be working with An Comunn Gàidhealach in Scotland this year. ACG is raising our event to a higher level. We’re receiving support from An Comunn Gàidhealach America too. It’s important for learners or students here to meet with singers and speakers of Scottish Gaelic, and Iain and Emma will be fantastic Gaelic ambassadors. We will learn so much from them and I hope they will see how strong the interest is in Scottish Gaelic in this area. Some people will come just to meet them! They will have a great welcome.” Emma MacLeod said: “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to go overseas to Mòd Chesapeake as a Gaelic Ambassador, alongside Iain. It’s a great honour to travel so far afield to share my love and passion for the Gaelic language, culture and song. I look forward to engaging with attendees, inspiring them to explore and embrace Gaelic traditions, and fostering a deeper appreciation for Scotland’s heritage. Being able to represent Gaelic internationally is not just a privilege but also a testament to the enduring significance of our cultural identity. What better way to learn a language than through song? I live for the Mòd and now I get to go to two within a couple of months – delighted!”

Iain Cormack said: “It is an honour to be invited to take part in Mòd Chesapeake and I am very proud that I, along with Emma, are to be there as ambassadors for An Comunn Gàidhealach and the Gaelic community as a whole. The Mòd has always played a very important part in my life, having competed from childhood into adulthood, and I am very much looking forward to be bringing a small taste of Gaelic language and music to an international stage! It is very important to maintain the connection of Gaelic culture with American people of Gaelic descent, and I am sure there will be several attendees at the Mòd that come into that category. Personally, I am especially looking forward to meeting those with good Skye ancestry! Here’s to Mòd Chesapeake!”

The second annual Mòd Chesapeake will take place at St. Vincent Pallotti High School, Laurel, Maryland, USA on Saturday 3^rd August 2024. For more information and updates, please visit www.sgoilgaidhlig.org/mod-chesapeake. This year’s Royal National Mòd will take place in Oban, Scotland between 11 – 19 October 2024. Find out more at www.ancomunn.co.uk.

It began with a skeleton. Not long ago, that skeleton was given a face. Now, after nearly 2,000 years in the soils of a Roman fort, we finally know the place that face called home. The skeleton in question was unearthed at Trimontium Roman fort along the River Tweed near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. Meaning ‘place of the three hills’ after the Eildon Hills looming over it, Trimontium was a massive auxiliary fort which at times marked the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain.

The Trimontium Trust, who run Trimontium Museum in Melrose and conduct archaeological research into the Roman invasions of Scotland, have announced the results of new dating and isotope analysis into the identity of this ‘Trimontium Man’. He was no legionary conqueror, but a local born and raised in the Scottish Borders. The question that remains is: why was his body buried within a Roman fort?

The lands that would one day become Scotland

First built by the forces of Agricola, who went on to victory at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in the late 70s AD, Trimontium was occupied on and off until 211 AD when the death of Emperor Septimius Severus caused a total Roman withdrawal from the lands that would one day become Scotland. The fort had the northernmost confirmed amphitheatre in the Roman Empire, a bathhouse, barracks blocks, a luxurious mansion, and four annexes dedicated to manufacturing, civilian housing, and training. The skeleton’s identity was a mystery within a mystery. It was found in one of the 107 pits discovered at Trimontium during excavations led by Melrose solicitor James Curle between 1905 and 1910. These pits were no mere dips – some were more like wells, up to 36 feet deep. Their contents were astonishing, fuelling speculation about the fort’s ultimate fate to this very day. The exact circumstances of their creation remains unknown.

The pits were stuffed to the brim with everything you can imagine, and some things you’d rather not. Huge volumes of masonry from the fort itself were tumbled into them. Prized possessions including iron weapons and armour, brooches, rings and leather shoes were mixed in among animal bones, shattered pottery, and several separate human remains. Seventeen horse skulls were recovered from a single pit, all of them seemingly killed by a blow to the head shortly before they were dumped into the pits.

What could possibly have driven such destruction? The contents of the pits date from at least two different periods of occupation, the 80s AD and 180s AD. In both cases, Trimontium was abandoned – or overwhelmed – as the Romans withdrew south to consolidate and focus on threats on other frontiers of the empire. Were the contents of the pits deposited in good order, perhaps by the garrison grimly cutting their losses and preventing anything of value from falling into native hands? Or could they have been filled in the wake of a violent overthrow of the fort by the vengeful Selgovae or Votadini tribes who had previously bent under the Roman yoke?

The debate still rages, and we may never know the truth. Now, however, we know intimate details about the life of Trimontium Man. Analysis coordinated by Professor Derek Hamilton of the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) as part of the Francis Crick Institute’s 1000 Ancient Genomes from Great Britain project has confirmed that Trimontium Man’s life coincided with the first period of the fort’s occupation, some time before 120 AD. He was born and raised somewhere in a swathe stretching from Moffat in the southwest to the Lammermuir Hills in the north-east.

A son of the Borders

A facial reconstruction for Trimontium Man was previously made by Professor Caroline Wilkinson. His face is weathered but kindly, with small features and a bald pate – the kind of face you’ll see in most any pub or while walking along any British high street today. Strontium isotope analysis of one of his teeth identified him as between 36 to 45 years old at the time of his death. His diet consisted almost entirely of land-based plants and animals despite having the River Tweed and North Sea nearby, an unusual trend of minimal fish consumption we see across early Scotland through into the Pictish period. He had periodontal disease with several abscesses and an overbite on the right side, so he must have been no stranger to pain and discomfort.

As for how his life ended, we can only guess. He could have been a civilian trading with the soldiers of the fort who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps he was a warrior or dignitary executed by the Romans to send a message, or killed simply out of blind malice as the soldiers prepared to retreat to Hadrian’s Wall. It was, after all, common practice for Romans to execute prisoners prior to withdrawing from a region. Intriguingly, an iron spearhead was found alongside his skeleton, but this may have shifted from elsewhere in the pit and may have no direct connection to Trimontium Man. Whatever the truth, Trimontium Museum is telling as much of the story as it can through continuing research and interpretation. Many of the finds from Trimontium’s pits are on display at the museum, as well as at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. There is a special pride in Trimontium Man in Melrose – he was, after all, one of ours, a son of the Borders.

By: David C. Weinczok

Two full days of Celtic culture- August 31^st and September 1^st.

A vein of Scottish culture runs strong through Canmore’s community and is celebrated annually through the Canmore Highland Games. Founded in 1884 as a coal mining town, driven by the expansion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Scottish immigrants and their families settled in Canmore, bringing with them their customs and traditions. Immerse yourself this Labour Day weekend in majestic mountains and the sounds of pipes and drums that bring together the traditions, athleticism, and spirit of Scotland. Canmore may not be the Scottish Highlands, but on August 31^st and September 1^st, it will feel like it is.

Rich Celtic custom

Reflecting rich Celtic custom, the weekend will be filled with music and dance. Highland dancers of all ages, from near and far, will take the stage in dance competitions exhibiting strength, agility, and grace. The air will be filled with the sounds of the hundreds of pipers and drummers who come to win honours at the Piping and Drumming competitions. And the thrill of the closing ceremony, where all bands will join the Massed Pipes & Drums of the Canmore Highland Games, will move you.   Central to the Canmore Highland Games, and a crowd favourite on the festival fields, are the heavy Highland sports. Cheer for the athletes as they throw the hammer, try the stone put, and attempt to toss the caber end over end. These traditional athletic competitions showcase the strength, skill, and endurance of the players.

The Canmore Highland Games also serve as a gathering point for Scottish clans. Clan tents will be set up to share about the history and heritage of various Scottish clans. Perhaps you’ll find your people?   Wander through the Celtic Market to find a kilt or a new tam. Peruse the British Car show. Watch the Sheepdogs at work herding. Enter in the Tug of War! There’s something for everyone. We give cheers to our opening day with the Taste of the Highlands Saturday night, August 31^st. Enjoy an evening in a Celtic lounge atmosphere sipping wines and whisky’s, meads and ales from some of the world’s most celebrated producers. Appetizers will be served up by some of Canmore’s finest restaurants.

A vibrant celebration of Scottish culture

Over the two days of the Canmore Highland Games, festival tents will showcase additional entertainment from local bands and Irish Step Dancers. An additional ticket can be purchased for a special Scotch-tasting experience. And be sure to join us for our kitchen party, the Canmore Ceilidh, on Sunday, September 1^st. This year, coming all the way from Glasgow, we have the Rollin Drones, a dynamic, energetic, 6-piece bagpipe pop band, here to close out our weekend of events with the party of the summer!

The Canmore Highland Games have grown significantly since their inception, becoming a major event in Canmore’s cultural calendar. Held annually on the Labour Day weekend, the games attract participants and spectators from across Canada and beyond. The event is a vibrant celebration of Scottish culture and summer festival in the Rocky Mountains that you don’t want to miss.

Come celebrate Celtic culture in Canmore, Alberta on August 31^st and September 1^st. Get all the details and tickets at: www.CanmoreHighlandGames.ca

Scone Palace is the family home of the Earls of Mansfield and been in the Murray family for over 400 years. The Palace is rich in history and is today a top visitor attraction in the region. William Murray, Lord Stormont, took the time to speak to the Scottish Banner on its incredible past, some of the gems found both inside and outside the Palace and just why he loves Perthshire.

Scone Palace has a fascinating past as the ancient crowning place of Scottish kings and has hosted some huge names in Scottish history. Can you tell us briefly about some of the history of Scone Palace?

There is the history of Scone Palace and also the history of Scone as a place. Scone as a place has been of significance in Scotland from at least 843 when the first King of Scots, Kenneth MacAlpine, came to Scone and was inaugurated as first King of Scots here. He chose Scone as his Westminster, as his seat of power, and used it for ruling and administering the emerging Scottish Kingdom. Scone is also the first site of a recorded parliament in Scottish history, so it was a coronation site, a site of Parliament and a religious destination, because there was a monastery, and later an Abbey, which were in the grounds here.

Our family came along after the Reformation in 1600. So, we have been here for 400 years as the stewards of Scone and quite a lot has happened in that period as well. Including the rise and fall of the Jacobites, who were heavily associated with the emergence of the Hanoverian state which we managed to transition to support fully. And I think I would say peak Scone was 1842 when Queen Victoria came to visit on her Jubilee tour on her state visit, and that is when our family was really in its pomp, and where Scone was really humming as a place.

The Palace is not only rich in history but houses some incredible objects. What can visitors to the Palace expect to see?

There are extensive and beautiful collections of various things, and it is quite broad, so that makes it so interesting. There are ceramics, ivories, there are wonderful papier mâché vases which are extremely special. Obviously, furniture of all shapes and kinds, some of which was given to us by famous people like Marie Antoinette, there is also a very nice collection of clocks and ceramics.

But beyond that, there is also some other things like the Moot Hill itself, though not part of our collection, but definitely a physical item of great significance at Scone. The Moot Hill is where the coronations of Scottish kings took place. Macbeth, Robert the Bruce, David the 1st, all the big names of Scottish history are all crowned here, on the Moot Hill. And anyone who comes here can witness that and be part of that tradition. They can go up onto the Moot Hill with its fantastic folklore. The name is also referred to as the Boot Hill, which relates to the soil that was essentially collected there. Soil having been brought in on the boots of all Scots who are coming to witness ceremonies at Scone, and having that soil pour into a mound, the same mound on which the King of Scots would stand to make his vows to the Scottish people. Meaning that that mound quite literally represents all of Scotland. So, I cannot speak about the collection without talking about the Moot Hill as it is such a special place.

Scone boasts 100 acres of woodlands and gardens to enjoy, can you tell us about the magical outdoor space Scone Gardens has to offer?

Most of the outdoor space was designed and laid out at the same time as the palace was refabricated, rather than built, in 1800. It was designed by JC Loudon who was a very famous landscape designer.

Trees are very important to us at Scone, we have some ancient old trees. We have trees in the garden that were planted by recent royalty, current royalty and some more ancient royalties. The oldest tree planted here was by James the 5^th of Scotland, which makes it about 500 years old. One of the newer highlights is the newly opened walled garden, which for various reasons was in a very bad state of disrepair until recently, primarily because of the 1^st and 2^nd World Wars as it was turned over for making potatoes rather than beautiful flowers and plants. So essentially it had to be entirely recreated since then and our gardening team has done a fantastic job and it’s still an ongoing project, which I think makes it quite fun for our visitors, especially returning visitors, because every time they come back they can see the next stage of the evolution.

My favourite thing in the gardens is the pinetum, the legacy of David Douglas son of Scone, who became a highly lauded botanist, and he was the one that put a name to a lot of plants in North America, including the famous Douglas Fir. Indeed, the first Douglas Fir to be planted successfully from a seed outside of North America is in the garden here. People quite literally come on pilgrimage just to visit that one tree, it is like we have a celebrity tree in the garden.

Interestingly guests to Scone Palace once had to be given a door handle to be able to access the rooms of the Palace, can you tell us about any of your favourite fascinating bits of history about the property people may not know about?

I definitely think the door handles is up there because it’s just so quaint and wonderful. I just love the idea of going to stay in the hotel where you are not given a room key, you are given a door handle, and you must wander around with that in your pocket. Another thing like that, which is quite fun is we have a loo which is called the poodle loo. My great grandmother was obsessed with dogs and the wallpaper has poodles on it. And it was not just the wallpaper, there are teddy bears, little China models, books, cards the whole thing is poodles. It is bonkers, but I think it speaks to our family and these places have to be family homes as well as museums.

People can stay at Scone Palace, can you tell us more?

Yes, not only can you do self-guided tours, but we have also got accommodation within the Palace as well. We have five-star self-catering accommodation for those who would like to come and visit, and I can personally attest to how wonderful that accommodation is because that’s where I stayed during the first lockdown with my then fiancé.  During Covid we isolated ourselves in the Balvaird Wing, which is the most comfortable place to stay in the Palace. So, you can really enhance your trip and come and stay in the Palace, which is something pretty special.

Scone Palace has been in your family for over 400 years. The upkeep of this property must be quite a challenge. How do you manage to balance the property as both an important part of Scotland’s heritage but also as a modern-day business enterprise?

It is very challenging and there’s no shying away from that and you have to approach things now as a business, I think you could get away with not doing that 50 years ago, but now you really need to approach things as a commercial concern and it is greatly challenging.

We are trying to interact more with the local community here. That will be a big sea change that will happen in the coming years for us, because currently we are a pay to play venue. And we are going to be redeveloping our stable block to mean that you don’t have to pay to play, you will be able to visit the stable block and have a nice coffee and a bite to eat, and look at the various shops there without paying to enter the grounds and to enjoy the historic side of it. So, there is a big change on the way there for us, which is very exciting, although a little bit daunting. But again, this speaks to that challenge of everything is about making our business sustainable and our family being at Scone for the future. Whatever we can do to achieve that, we will.

Scone Palace not only offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in Scottish history and stunning gardens, but the Palace also offers a fantastic array of events held on the grounds for people to enjoy. Can you tell us about some the events you host and why it is so important for a historic property to offer these diverse range of events for the public?

Yes, there is lots happening here at Scone year-round. We have events such as Paws at the Palace which is our dog specific event. Our family follows in the steps of my great grandmother and loves dogs. We had over 1,000 dogs last year, which is a lot of dogs to have on the lawn.

And there are other events, for example we just had the Garden Fair, which is like the Chelsea Flower Show of Scotland. Which is in its third year and extremely popular already and on its way to being an established gardening event. Next up for us is The GWCT Scottish Game Fair, which is a celebration of the Scottish outdoors.

Otherwise, there is nearly always something happening, an event of some sort, or works of some sort. We have Christmas tours where we do up the palace to look particularly Christmasy and that is pretty magical. We really are quite incredibly busy and there are always things going on. We do not really have a quiet time, the only time it is a bit quieter is January, the team here roll their sleeves up as we do not really have a down month. We keep busy here making ends meet and these types of events help us to maximise profits to keep things running.

And finally, Perthshire is full of incredible outdoor spaces and is known as “Big Tree Country”. Can you tell us any parts of Perthshire that you love to visit and why?

That is a very good question, I would say it is one of the walking routes in the area. We are blessed where we are. We are an hour from Edinburgh and all the city life, and we are also less than an hour from some very wild areas. So, we can access a lot of different things very easily. Whether it is nice hiking routes, walking routes, kayaking and things like that. That is all very easily done from here, so I cherish that element of where we live.

Perth has everything that you need for a visit to Scotland. It is within striking distance of whatever you want, if it is castles we can do that, if it’s whisky we can do that very well and if it’s hiking, bicycling, or golf, everything is on the menu here. It is also a great base for day trips such as St Andrews or Edinburgh, so in terms of a hub and spoke visit strategy Perth is perfect.

Scone Palace is located one mile from Perth city centre. For details see: www.scone-palace.co.uk.

All images courtesy of Scone Palace & © ZACandZAC.

The Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games is thrilled to announce that their Featured Guests for 2024 will be Duncan Lacroix, also known as Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, alongside Maria Doyle Kennedy, known as Jocasta Cameron, on the hit TV series Outlander based on the best-selling books by Diana Gabaldon. Canadian actor Charles Vandervaart, who plays William Ransom, was scheduled to appear this year however a filming conflict in Scotland has meant he had to cancel his appearance.

“The Festival team has curated an amazing combination of rare and exclusive VIP experiences. Visitors will have the opportunity to attend autograph/photo sessions and free, engaging panel discussions. Our incredibly popular whisky tasting is back, along with some exciting new experiences this year,” stated Executive Director Elizabeth Bender. “One rare event we are particularly excited to be presenting is a concert at the Fergus Grand Theatre featuring Maria Doyle Kennedy, who is an accomplished musician. Of course, we are sad that Charles will not be able to attend but Duncan is a wonderful replacement.” Bender added.

Outlander fans will know that on the show the characters played by Maria and Duncan, Aunt Jocasta Cameron and Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, are in an endearing relationship. “In 2022, Duncan Lacroix was our Featured Guest and was a huge hit with our guests. We are incredibly happy to have him back and know that with all the amazing events we have planned, it is going to be a great year.” Bender said.

There will be multiple opportunities to meet both guests up close at the scheduled featured events, and they will also be participating in activities throughout the Festival grounds all weekend. The full schedule is available online at fergusscottishfestival.com, and tickets for the scheduled Featured Guest events with Maria Doyle Kennedy and Duncan Lacroix are on sale. Stay on top of announcements and updates by signing up for their newsletter and following Fergus Scottish Festival’s social media channels.

For more information about the Featured Guest’s and to get your Festival admission tickets, which are on sale now, visit:  www.fergusscottishfestival.com.

Historic Scotland sites across the country will hold host to anniversary events.

This month marks the 750^th anniversary of Robert the Bruce’s birth on 11^th July, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) sites are hosting a range of activities that give visitors the chance to walk in the shoes of the iconic Scottish ruler and learn more about his historic legacy. Visitors can follow in the footsteps of the iconic Scot with the Outlaw King Trail, leading to historic sites connected to Robert the Bruce and the Netflix film Outlaw King. There will also be special talks offered at Melrose Abbey, where Robert the Bruce’s heart was buried.

To mark the special anniversary, HES has joined forces with other organisations in Dumfries and Galloway, a region of Scotland of great significance in the lives of Robert the Bruce and his family, with a programme of events including a children’s trail across Sweetheart Abbey, Whithorn Priory, Glenluce Abbey and Caerlaverock Castle, where little ones can also learn about the life of Scotland’s renowned ruler. Caerlaverock Castle will also host the exhilarating Spectacular Jousting on the 27^th and 28^th of July.

A true Scottish hero

Alongside themed tours and trails, Living History performances of Robert the Bruce are planned across Historic Scotland sites over the summer including Edinburgh Castle, Dunfermline Abbey and Melrose Abbey. A new range of products has also been launched on Stor, the Historic Scotland shop. Featuring bold and vibrant designs that honour the King who won the Battle of Bannockburn, the range has been created by Scottish designer Allistair J Burt in partnership with Historic Scotland.

Stephen Duncan, Director of Marketing & Engagement at Historic Environment Scotland, said: “Robert the Bruce is a truly iconic figure from history who has connections to a number of our sites. We’re looking forward to welcoming visitors across the country with a range of events to explore and lots to discover about a true Scottish hero.”

The full list of events, activities and the sites involved can be found on the Historic Scotland website at:  www.historicenvironment.scot/bruce.