Pipers to play tune by Falklands hero

IT was composed by a Scots piper on the back of a ration packet during a deadly battle.

Now, The Crags Of Tumbledown Mountain is to be played by pipers from around the world to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War ceasefire.

Scots Guard James Riddell wrote the tune while under fire during a battle in which eight comrades were killed. Shortly afterwards, he climbed to the top of the mountain to play it for the first time.

Ahead of its performance tomor-row at 11am, his daughter Teri Newell, 53, has revealed her father said the music ‘just came to him’ as she spoke of the trauma he carried through life following the war.

‘Things were obviously going through his head at the time, then it all came together,’ she said.

Born in Stonehaven, Kincardine-shire, Mr Riddell joined the Scots Guards aged 17. He married his high school sweetheart Pauline, and served in Malaya, Borneo, and Northern Ireland. Mrs Newell, now living in Slough, Berkshire, with her husband Eric, was their only child.

Aged 14 when her father came home from the war, she said: ‘He became more insular and never spoke about his experiences. I’m almost certain he had post-traumatic stress disorder, but it wasn’t recog-nised at the time.’

Mr Riddell left the forces in 1991. He died of a brain tumour in 1997.

Mrs Newell is proud her father’s memory lives on through his music.

‘It’s amazing so many pipers will be playing it on Saturday, it really warms my heart,’ she said.

The performance is part of remem-brance events, organised by Legion Scotland and PoppyScotland.