Rejuvenated military tattoo set to go with a bang

Tickets are selling fast for this year’s rejuvenated Highland Military Tattoo – with visitors to travel from as far as the US and Down Under.

Organisers of the event are “confident” the September 8-10 show at Fort George will attract far more interest than in previous years.

Dwindling ticket sales and funding left the future of the event in doubt last year, with bosses reporting a £40,000 loss over the last three tattoos.

But the organisers announced before Christmas that they would press on with plans for this year’s event – and have overhauled the way it is promoted.

Major General Seymour Monro, the Tattoo director, has been conducting radio interviews in North America and believed the profile of the event was growing.

He said: “We’ve got all the acts sorted out and the programme is going to be great – a terrific show.

“Ticket sales are looking up. We started our marketing much later this year, quite deliberately. We started at the end of May.

“We’re confident we will get enough seats filled this year to make the whole thing viable.”

Previously held at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness, the event was scrapped after 60 years in 2011 due to cost-cutting, before being reborn in 2014 at Fort George.

Scotland’s second biggest military tattoo will this year be based on an RAF theme and will also feature re-enactments celebrating the history of Fort George itself .