SPECTATORS and participants from far and wide flocked to the bonnie banks last Saturday to enjoy the family-friendly atmosphere of the Luss Highland Games.

Saturday’s event took place under glorious blue skies and featured all the traditional Highland Games attractions, including piping, Highland dancing, track and field athletics and ‘heavy’ events.

A parade of Luss residents and visitors, led by the Colquhoun family and the Helensburgh Clan Colquhoun Pipe Band, from the village pier to the Games field started off the day before chieftain Patrick Colquhoun performed the official opening ceremony to get the day’s fun under way.

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Among the visitors to this year’s event were members of the Clan Colquhoun International Society, who travelled to the historic home turf of the family from all around the world and took part in four days of events in Luss and the surrounding area.

Showing that historic enmities have long since been put aside, they even rubbed shoulders in the parade with members of two other clans – the Buchanans and the Ewens – who long ago were seen as their bitter rivals.

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Anne Paterson, secretary of the Games’ organising committee, said: “It went extremely well – I’ve had loads of messages from people since Saturday congratulating us on holding such a well-organised event.

“The Clan Colquhoun International Society brought more than 60 members from the USA, and the Clan Buchanan really enjoyed the day too – they’ve said they’ll be coming back next year.

“We even had a visit from Charlie Murray, president of the Scottish Highland Games Association, who congratulated us on the success of the day.

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“We’re very grateful to all our supporters and particularly to Luss Estates for their help setting up the venue.

“The Games committee works really hard from November onwards, planning and organising the day, and it’s brilliant to see it all pay off.”

(All pictures by Lesley Roberts)