Bring on the games
Perth event organisers loving Scone Palace site
The organisers of Perth Highland Games have said they hope their change of location will prevent further cancellations of the event.
Last year’s Highland games had to be scrapped after heavy rain the week before on the lesser South Inch coupled with Perth Show left the ground a muddy mess.
But the committee has moved to avoid a repeat by shifting the action to Scone Palace, with the first games at the new venue set to take place on Sunday, August 12.
Games committee secretary Brian Whyte told the PA: “We are really delighted with the games being at Scone. Perth Highland Games sets up at this new location three weeks after Rewind, and unlike before, with us coming along after Perth Show, an event like Rewind - being music and pedestrians - is unlikely to leave us difficult ground conditions to set up on. The ground is hard, dry conditions last month have helped us no end.
“The other major help of being at Scone Palace is if in future one spot is too wet within the large area of the grounds, we have other options where we can relocate the games arena. All in all it makes the whole thing more of a by heavy rain The lesser South Inch last year after the Perth Show was struck
dependable fixture.
“We get a lot of bad press if we are going to call it off well before the event. That’s the best way to ensure the games loses as little money as possible through cancellation penalties.
“People have been disappointed, when we’ve called it off with more than 24 hours to go when they see things improve a bit weather-wise, but it is the sensible thing to do if the situation looks risky. We bring everything in from the Thursday and the last thing you want is HGVs getting stuck in the field.”
Brian is a busy man, also presenting on Perth Hospital Radio. But for the past few weeks, organising the Perth Highland Games has occupied his every waking moment.
“There are 10 of us on the Highland games committee, that’s a low number for an event this big. We’re always looking for more new volunteers by the way.
“Things are all go right now. The closing date for the solo piping and the pipe bands has passed. We’re really pleased to have 63 entries for Highland Games are being pulled in a new direction with the move to Scone solo piping and 43 bands wanting to compete.
“The Perth games is a week before the Worlds (championships) and so they musicians use us as a warm-up.
“The pipe bands come from local areas, but we’ve also got entries from Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand , Zimbabwe and Oman. And solo pipers are flocking in from Wales, Northern Ireland, France, Germany, the New World and even China.
“The track and field entries are coming along nicely, heavyweights tend to enter on the day. We don’t tend to get many teams for the tug ‘o war as that’s one for the young farmers and they tend to be busy this time of year.
“The most prize money is for sprinting and we have quite a variety of runners and cyclists entered. Perth Highland Games has the Scottish Championships for the 90m sprint and the 1000m cycling race. We look forward to those.”
The games will have Lady Mansfield as the 2018 chieftain and Provost Dennis Melloy, the patron of the games, will also be present.
See spectacular pipers, dancers, runners, cyclists and heavyweights compete on Sunday, August 12 from 9am. The day ends with the massed pipe bands at 5.30pm. Entry is £8 adults and concessions £4, children under fives are free.