Strathpeffer Highland Gathering
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| One of the longest-established Highland Games in Scotland |
One of the longest-established Highland Games in Scotland
Saturday 10/08/2013
Time: All day from 10am
Location: Castle Leod
Entry Fee: There is an entry fee at the gate
The games have heavy events, dancing, piping, hill race, side shows, trade stalls, horse jumping and tug o' war. In 2012 the games are at Castle Leod on Saturday 11 August from 10am to 5.30pm.
History of the Gathering
The annual Strathpeffer Highland Gathering, one of the longest-established Highland Games in Scotland, takes place in the grounds of Castle Leod every August.
The first Strathpeffer Games for which records are available took place on Wednesday 20th July 1881. It was noted that some six professional athletes took part (including two from Inverness) supported by amateurs from Bonar Bridge, Munlochy, Dingwall and elsewhere.
These first Games were not without their controversy. The Ross-Shire Journal noting: “The sports, the bulk of the prizes for which go to the pockets of the professionals who are connected with such events, are not worthy of the name of athletic sports, and at any rate they cannot be considered local in any sense of the word. In several races, some dissatisfaction was rightly manifested that amateurs were not handicapped with avowed professionals. However, be these things as they may, we were proud to see some of our local amateurs come so close to the professional gentlemen.”
Whilst Games took place in 1881, the following year appears to have marked the inaugural Strathpeffer Highland Gathering under the direction of a committee formed to encourage Highland sports within the district. Hence, we consider 1882 to be the true birth of our Games.
It is recorded that the 1882 Games took place in: “…a field a little to the north of the Spa, kindly granted for the occasion by Mr Gunn, Nutwood. There was a large attendance of residences, visitors and others from Dingwall and the surrounding district. Though somewhat cloudy in the forenoon, the weather turned out bright and delightful, and the Games proved in every way successful and enjoyable.” The records go on to state: “It is confidently anticipated, from the success which attended the Gathering on Saturday that the Games will now become an annual institution in the Strath.”
That the Games continue now, some 130 years later, is testament to the foresight of the first organisers and of everyone who has followed them in helping to support the Games.
Contact: Julian Foot
Telephone/Mobile: 07767 688292
Email: moc.liamg|gnirehtagdnalhgihreffephtarts#moc.liamg|gnirehtagdnalhgihreffephtarts
Event websites:
http://www.strathpeffervillage.org.uk/community%3A8
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Look for Twitter usernames: @strathvillage
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