Around the world in 21 days - Lord Sempill's Blog

 Over three consecutive weekends, I attended Highland Games on three different continents - probably a first!

In Aberdeen in New South Wales, Australia, I was given the honour to be Chief of their Games. This was only their ninth and they managed to attract 15 pipe bands and a crowd of around 3000 people. As you can see from the photograph, the Dubbo Pipe Band has the youngest drum major in the world - six year-old Eli Catto. My host Duncan Macintyre not only acted as my banner bearer, but also let me wear the dirk that was worn by King George IV during Sir Walter Scott's Royal Pageant back in 1822. His great, great grandfather had been given the dirk by His Royal Highness for his services at that memorable event.

Across in the Blue mountains of North Carolina in the USA, I attended the 53rd Grandfather Mountain Games, still the biggest gathering of the clans anywhere in the world. Some 40,000 people visited the Games over the weekend. Many of them are coming to The Gathering 2009 and it was great to get confirmation of their positive support, especially in a time of economic downturn and a weak dollar.

I love the enthusiasm and pride that the Americans have in their heritage, and it is amazing to realise that there are over 300 Highland Games held every year in the USA, three times greater than the number of Games we hold in Scotland.

Finally, along with my colleagues, we attended the 186th games in Inverness. For a midsummer's day, the weather was a shocker. It rained most of the weekend and the temperature rarely rose above 12 degrees Celsius. What is sadder is that there were fewer clans in attendance than at the Aberdeen Games two weekends earlier. Unfortunately, there was little interaction between them and the Games, no parades and no real presence, apart from a few tables hidden away in a large tent, manned by the clan faithful. Further evidence, that with the exception of a few, the clans are struggling to attract new members. It does seem as if the key to the future of clan membership lies overseas and really begs the question of how we in Scotland can re-engage with our own heritage?

We hope that The Gathering 2009 will provide the necessary impetus to breathe life back into our clan societies, which realistically are the equivalent of today's social networks.