Ashbourne Highland Gathering 2014

[tpa]

As far as I am aware, Freddie and I were the only two there. This was a shame because the weather was fine, there were, according to the program 36 bands there, Geoff Capes and his Highland Games competitors, folk music, a sheep show and a dog and duck display. There was also of course Highland Dancing, which, unfortunately I saw very little of, similarly the Tug of War and also the regular Hill Race.

Last year I visited Harpenden for the first time but found that Ashbourne has much more of an all Scottish flavour than Harpenden with many more bands and much grater emphasis on the Highland Games.

So Freddie and I: a selection of bands: and plenty of kids activities too: Kids were definitely encouraged:

[tpa]

Onto the games under Geoff Capes beady eye: First came Putting the Stone: followed by throwing the weight for distance: then throwing the hammer: The weight for height came next: then the Manhood stones: All the competitors managed all 4 Manhood Stones, one of them for the first time, in times ranging from 14 seconds to around a minute. No one managed the Ashbourne special stone. No one seems to know how much it weighs but it is much bigger than the others which weigh from 80 to 140 kg.

[tpa]

As with previous years help was on hand to retrieve all the items: Finally we had tossing the caber: No one managed it this year. The best attempt was classified as a bicycle by Geoff, apparently because bicycles are cheap in Scotland. The cable landed about 75º away from the desired direction, but was better than anyone else achieved. Geoff celebrated with a cuddle and the winner got a trophy: Steven Quigg was the headline act in the folk singing: whilst the main arena moved from cabers to Drum majors and some impressive tossing: Then on to the Dog and Duck (show not pub unfortunately): which among other things featured a the ducks and at the end a dog taking a quick bath:

[tpa]

It's a dog's life, this one showed no interest in the proceedings at all: comfortably ensconced under a stall, however one spectator's dog did attempt to join in the dog and duck show, with its owner hot on its heels (or should that read with its hot owner on its heels): Whichever, even collared it was reluctant to give up on the ducks: Finally we came to the massed pipes and drums, which is an impressive spectacle to which it was quite difficult to do justice from my position on the stand: In the afternoon the sun came out and shone steadily on the later events and straight at my camera, but you can see from the pictures that all the bands came out in shirtsleeves, which was just as well as they had to stand all through the prize giving, which seemed to go on forever.

One surprise I had was to see a gentleman in a utility kilt. He worked with an organisation called Lonescout Bushcraft, http://lonescoutbushcraft.co.uk, and they have adopted the Utility kilt as part of their uniform, which he was wearing. Apparently bushcraft is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. We departed shortly before the end so did not hear the result of the Scottish referendum pole they were running at the side of the Clan tents.

[ASinclair]

Nice pictures and commentary. Thanks for sharing.

[freddie]

Great photos, you've really caught the flavor of the games. It was nice to meet you again and thanks for the heads up about getting a seat in the stand, I'll certainly do that next year. It's a pity more of the rabble couldn't be there because it really is the best games outside of Scotland this side of the Atlantic.

[Norbo]

It looks like a great day out shame we could not make it . But my Son was playing for the Nottingham Under25's Bowls

[Downunder Kilt]

Thanks for the photos TPA, great to see takes on the Highland Gatherings/Games around the Globe. Cheers