Cowal Highland Gathering organiser Malcolm Barclay has explained how the event attracts competitors and supporters from around the globe - in the process celebrating its own Homecoming every year.
He spoke on the final day of this year’s three-day event, which hosts a series of competitions - such as a major pipe band championship and the World Highland Dancing Championships - as well as a whole array of other entertainment, bringing thousands of spectators who make the annual trip to Dunoon year after year.
Of the Cowal Highland Gathering 2009, Malcolm said: “They’ve been excellent. The weather hasn’t been as kind to us as it could have been, but the events have been fantastic.
“The calibre of competition has been excellent, and the range of trade stands has been superb.”
Cowal offers a mixture of the traditional events that the gathering has been founded on, such as the highland dancing, heavy athletics and the 136 pipe bands that come to Cowal, and the more contemporary elements such as the ceilidh tent, which had the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Skerryvore playing.
“As an organiser of the gathering we feel we do the Homecoming every year,” Malcolm explained. “We have competitors and supporters that come from Canada and America, New Zealand and South Africa, places like that every single year.
“But I think the year of Homecoming has been an excellent time for Scotland as a whole as well as for our event, bringing people back to Scotland.”
