A PENINSULA piper has taken part in a three-man Rosneath Highland Gathering to “keep the spirit of our local games alive” - after the popular annual event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to be held on Sunday, July 19, this year’s games were scrapped after lockdown restrictions were imposed in March.

However, that didn’t stop Cove man Roddy Garden and good pals Frazer Smith and Mathew Finlay from putting on their own show, which was filmed and broadcast to a virtual audience on social media.

Roddy, who is a member of the Helensburgh Clan Colquhoun Pipe Band and usually marches in with the chieftain to open the Gathering each year, said that while his version was just a bit of fun, the official gathering has been hugely missed in the area’s social calendar.

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He said: “We did solo piping, shot putt, tossing the caper, a solo hill race and some other heavy events.

“I used to compete many moons ago in the games but now I just play with the pipe band.

“The band have missed playing at the Rosneath Peninsula Highland Gathering this year, as well as in Balloch, Helensburgh and Luss.”

Roddy’s social media exploits are well known – he played ‘Scotland the Brave’ while bungee jumping across a Perthshire gorge in 2016, and last year he took his pipes with him on a ‘bike ride’ across the surface of Loch Long, raising £7,000 in the process for Children’s Hospices Across Scotland.

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The more serious side of Roddy’s music featured in the Advertiser just a few weeks ago, when we reported how he’d taken part in his first ever solo piping competition via Zoom.

“So many other sporting events couldn’t go ahead,” he added, “and it’s been a big miss for everyone.

“We just wanted to keep the spirit of the Games alive and people seem to like it.

“Judging by the comments online, folk have said how much they’ve missed it – and especially the beer tent!”

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