Kith n kin gather in Waipu

All things Scottish will converge on Waipu on January 1 for the 139th Waipu Caledonian Highland Games.

Last year’s event attracted more than 4000 participants and spectators, and organisers are expecting a good crowd again next month.

The event will be hosted by clan MacLean and will be officially opened by Dame Cath Tizard, who is herself a Maclean descendent and patron of the Clan MacLean Association of NZ.
The guest drum major will be Innes Jephson
Caledonian Society secretary Wayne Laurence says the programme will include all the usual favourites such as the caber toss, piping and drumming, highland dancing, and the Tartan in the Park fashion parade.

A fiddling event, which hasn’t been run since before World War I, will be re-introduced and is expected to provide an entertaining session. It will be supported by the Southern Hemisphere International School of Scottish Fiddle and audience participation will be encouraged.

Mr Laurence says a highlight of the day will be the launch of the book Sailors & Settlers, by John McLean, a descendant of Nova Scotian settlers who sailed to NZ on the Ellen Lewis. Waipu Museum historian Betty Powell describes the book as “the most definitive book on the Nova Scotians written to date”. Copies will be available for sale on the day.

The games will be held at Caledonian Park and start with the March of the Clans at 9.30am. Info: www.waipugames.co.nz

PHOTO: Lewis Turrell MBE will receive the Assynt Quaich at next month’s games. The award recognises Mr Turrell’s enthusiastic support of the Waipu Games over many years.

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