Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland
'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot

Saturday 15 August 2009

Nairn Highland Games - 15 August 2009 (part 1)

The weather here in Nairn yesterday was 'lousy', to put it briefly, and the forecast for today wasn't much better. However, although it was grey and generally 'dreich' in the early morning, by late morning it had begun to brighten up quite a lot and by early afternoon it was becoming sunny. Indeed it remained sunny (with very brief cloudy intervals) for the whole afternoon. So it was an excellent afternoon indeed - a little windy, but pleasantly warm nonetheless. Bizarrely, just after the Games finished, it became quite overcast for a brief period and there was even a little drizzle - so the Games were charmed.

During the afternoon I took quite a lot of photographs and videos, and in this first part I'm including four video-clips of the marvellous Massed Pipe Bands doing their stuff throughout the afternoon. The next part will come either tomorrow evening or on Monday (as I am out for most of tomorrow) when I shall include a couple of additional, much briefer, video-clips (of a piper competing in the pipe competition and three stages of the 'tug of war' competition), plus a number of photographs of the day's events.

I hope you enjoy these video-clips; the clarity isn't that great, I'm afraid, because I don't have a very sophisticated camera - on the other hand I do happen to benefit from a prime vantage point for viewing the Games so I hope that is some compensation. Enjoy!

The arrival of the Massed Pipe Bands


Massed Pipe Bands - First march around the field


Massed Pipe Bands - "Scotland the Brave"


Massed Pipe Bands - The Green Hills of Tyrol ("A Scottish Soldier")


NB/ (Added Tuesday 18AUG09 23.10 BST) You can see the second part of my 2009 Games' report here.

5 comments:

  1. Now that's a bit of all right. Highland games are always a treat.

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  2. yes, I'm not a 'nationalist' in any way, but I do find some of the music quite stirring - just like the 'Last Night of the Proms', something to look forward to next month :)

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  3. Nice article Bill, a lot of Nairn folk and exiles will enjoy those videos.

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  4. That's a good blog, Bill. I live in Dyke and was at the bandstand end of the arena with my family who were visiting from down south.
    It was a good games and we had a great day out.
    I am looking forward to more of your pictures of the event.

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  5. Graisg and David

    Glad you enjoyed the article and I hope others who visit do too. Funnily enough I still get visits from places such as New Zealand, Canada and Australia from people who have 'Googled' material relating to Nairn years after I wrote them - in a couple of particular cases such references go back to articles 6 or 7 years old on a couple of topics; just goes to show there are people in diverse places worldwide interested in Nairn.

    I hope to get the additional few videos and some photos up sometime tomorrow, as I just got home a short while ago and need to 'recharge my batteries' for a few hours.

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