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 Come
and Join us...
...In April 2014 at
Highlander
Park...
...for a day of beautiful crafts, feats of
athletic strength, dazzling dancing, a wee bit of family history,
exceptional music and delicious Scottish, Irish and British foods!!!
The Dunedin Highland Games were implemented
in 1965 to raise funds to support the three Scottish bands of Dunedin:
The City of Dunedin Pipe
Band
The Dunedin High School Scottish Highlander Band
The Dunedin Highland Middle
School Band
...and to improve, develop and maintain
the standards and quality of Dunedin's Highland games and associated
activities. The Games and Festival also serve to entertain the public
while informing them of the Scottish culture. These funds will ensure
the continuation of the games into the future for the pleasure of the
attendees and the participants.
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WHATS NEW:
It is with great sadness that we recently
learned that our good friend and longtime committee member, B.J.
Sammon, passed away.
B.J. had been part of the Dunedin Highland Games
Committee for many years, holding several positions, Clan
Chairman and Vice President being just 2 of them. B.J. was also
a Chief of the day a few years ago.
He was a tireless worker, leader and mentor to many
on the committee and we along with the wider Scottish community
will miss him greatly. Our thoughts are with his wife Eileen and
his family.
RIP Dear B.J.
Thanks to everyone that attended
the 47th Annual Dunedin Highland Games. You helped make this one
of the most special. Hope to see you all again on November 23rd
at the Dunedin Celtic Festival.
Don't forget to Like us on Facebook
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Scottish families originally settled the
City of Dunedin in 1899. Two Scotsmen, J.O. Douglas and James Sumerville
named the settlement Dunedin, the original name of Edinburgh, their
hometown in Scotland.
In 1957 a new Junior High School was built
near Highland Avenue in Dunedin. Officials in charge named it Dunedin
Highland Junior High (now Dunedin Highland Middle), in honor of James
Sumerville and J.O.Douglas. Attending the opening ceremonies as a
reporter, Bob Longstreet, later mayor of Dunedin, had an idea. His
newspaper's owner was a Scottish Lord, Roy Thompson. Soon a gift set of
bagpipes was on its way from Scotland, which was accepted by students
Ann Catoe and Patricia Cornwell. Matt Forsyth, a piper extraordinaire
who just moved here from Scotland, offered his services and the
Highlanders were on their way! The students moved up to the newly built
Dunedin High School a few years later and now there were two pipe bands!
Soon after, the City formed its own band formed of mostly Dunedin High
graduates.
A young Matt Forsyth.
Many honors have been showered upon the Pipers of
Dunedin! They have been invited to play all over the world, including
Scotland, Prince Edward Island, Washington, D.C., and Ireland. Very
competitive, Dunedin's Pipe Bands have won many awards.
Through
their continued efforts and devotion, they have added sparkle to our
small city and strengthened the bonds between our town and the ancestral
home of many of Dunedin's people: Scotland.
Bagpipes are
intrinsically woven into the fabric of Dunedin, as intimately as the
wool in the tartan plaids worn by the pipers themselves! Citizens all
love the pipe music regardless of the venue it is played in by our
bands. Any function in Dunedin is not complete without a piper!
In June of 1964 the City of Dunedin invited Stirling, Scotland to join
in the People-to-People program as a Sister City of Dunedin. In December
of that year the City of Stirling reciprocated and the intertwining of
the two cities had begun. In March of 1998 the Provost of Stirling, John
Paterson JP represented Stirling at the Dunedin Highland Games. In the
summer of 1998 Dunedin Mayor Tom Anderson visited Stirling, and the
reciprocal visits continue today.
In May of 2000, we joined as a
second sister city to the Scottish-Canadian village of Summerside,
Prince Edward Island, a city very much like ours, with strong Scottish
heritage, relying on tourism to the coast.
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