Highland games VIP guest

MARKINCH Highland Games will welcome a transatlantic VIP when the annual event takes place next month.

Bob Fenwick, the mayor of Markinch in Canada, is to make t he 12,000km round-trip to Fife to fulfil a lifelong ambition.

He will be visiting the kingdom as part of a holiday to Scotland, and while Mr Fenwick has acknowledged that his position is largely ceremonial, organisers of the Fife games are to award him a VIP welcome to this year’s event.

He said: “I can’t wait to be there. I love the area as I have visited before but not for the games so it was a must for me as I’m on holiday at the time.”

Markinch, in Canada’s Saskatchewan region, which is home to just 72 people, was named after its Fife sister town by Scottish railroad workers who had moved across the Atlantic. There are also t owns named Cupar and Dysart in the area.

The Markinch Highland Games are at John Dixon Park on Sunday June 4, from 10am.