Stirling Highland Games
| Stirling Highland Games | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Highland Gathering |
| Dates | 3rd Saturday in August annually |
| Location(s) | Stirling Sports Village, Stirling |
| Country | Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Years active | 1870–present |
| Website | Stirling Highland Games |
The Stirling Highland Games is an annual Highland games event held at Stirling Sports Village in the Scottish town of Stirling, on the 3rd weekend (Saturday) in August.
History
Records indicate from 1985, when the event was run by Stirling District Tourism, that spectator numbers grew to 6,500 but declined dramatically to under 1,000 by 2011 due to lack of support.[1]
In 2013 Stirling District Tourism passed ownership to Matt McGrandles, a local social entrepreneur who has reinvigorated the event to include Highland dancing competitions, Heavy events and track and field.
Present times
Stirling Highland Games is Stirling's official highland games registered with the SHGA.[2]
In 2016, Stirling Highland Games trialled a virtual event.[3]
In 2018, Stirling Highland Games attracted more than 5,000 visitors, with many coming from overseas countries, including Canada, United States, Germany and France. Ceangail, [4] the organisation now delivering the event is looking to grow visitor numbers to 10,000 by 2020, when organisers will be celebrating its 150th year anniversary.
Tourism was top of the agenda in 2019 with Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford[5]
The Stirling Highland Games event was cancelled in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic[6] but went digital after cancellation. [7] [8] It also featured the inaugural strength and stamina event called The Bruce Challenge. [9]
Stirling Highland Games is one of four highland games events run in the Stirling Council area.[10]
Games Chieftain
The Stirling Highland Games committee now chooses its Games Chieftains [11] based on famous sons and daughters of Stirling to help celebrate this annual cultural event.
2014 Games Chieftain - Ally Hogg
2015 Games Chieftain - Michael Goodfellow (curler)
2016 Games Chieftain - Lesley Paterson
2017 Games Chieftain - Kari Carswell
2018 Games Chieftain - Simone Lahbib
2019 Games Chieftain - Kieron Achara
References
- ↑ "Highland Games cancelled because of recession". The Telegraph.
- ↑ "Scottish Highland Games Association". www.shga.co.uk.
- ↑ "Stirling Highland Games 2016 – TRADtv".
- ↑ "Home". Ceangail.
- ↑ "Local Tourism At The Top Of The Agenda". 6 August 2019.
- ↑ "Stirling Highland Games 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus". Stirling News.
- ↑ https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/stirling-highland-games-set-go-22220179/
- ↑ "The Best of Stirling with Stirling Highland Games".
- ↑ "Specsavers proud to sponsor the Stirling Highland Games | News | Specsavers UK". www.specsavers.co.uk.
- ↑ "Events & Festivals". my.stirling.gov.uk.
- ↑ "Past Chieftains at Stirling Highland Games in Scotland".
External links
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