Gourock Highland Games
8 May 2016
Inverclyde’s Highland Games event has started the Scottish season in style with a new location and one of its biggest audiences.
The Gourock Highland Games, held traditionally on the second Sunday in May, were moved from their traditional home to nearby Battery Park on the banks of the Clyde.
And, Inverclyde councillors decided to make the event free entry to mark its 60th anniversary year.
Security staff at the games , which took place yesterday Sunday 8 May, have estimated that the crowd is expected to have topped over 10,000 people as temperatures soared to 20 degrees.
Provost Robert Moran of Inverclyde Council said: “The Gourock Highland Games opened the Scottish season in some style. The new location at Battery Park, free entry and the fantastic weather all helped to deliver one of the best games in recent times. Isabel Lind was a fantastic Chieftain for the 60th anniversary of the games and a very popular choice. The massed bands and march past were a not to be missed sight."
Gourock Highland Games May 2016
On its 60th anniversary, the Games recognised that this was a weekend with another significant anniversary.
Lone piper Keith Bowes played a moving lament to mark the 75th anniversary of the Greenock blitz which saw nearly 300 people in the town lose their lives to German bombers.
Provost Robert Moran of Inverclyde Council said: “It was a special moment at the games when a moving lament was played to mark 75 years since the Greenock blitz.”