Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New attractions and a cruise ship help to swell visitor numbers to Oban Games

Parade of pipers including the gold and silver medals winners arrive on the games field after marching from Argyll Square in Oban.
Parade of pipers including the gold and silver medals winners arrive on the games field after marching from Argyll Square in Oban.

The Oban Games and Argyllshire Gathering proved more popular than ever yesterday with cruise ship passengers helping to swell the visitor numbers.

Amidst the new attractions, the Calcutta Cup – dating back to the 1870s – was displayed in the games field, as a way of celebrating the inaugural Argyll rugby cup being competed for by first-year pupils.

The Oban Games traditionally bring some of the finest pipers from all over the world to the north town and the winner of the coveted Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal  – Andrew Hayes of Ontario in Canada – had the honour of leading the march from the town centre to the games field.

Paul Nicoll, games steward, said afterwards: “This year, we had the inaugural Argyll rugby cup for first year pupils.

“We are trying to bring the games back to Oban, to the young people of Oban, which is why we have been including the school as much as possible.

“We have been doing a lot of work with the school and 22 pupils have been helping us out this year, not just with setting up, but with the organisation and social media.”

Helen Whittow, senior steward, was thrilled by the quality of the music.

She said: “We have two fantastic pieces of news in the piping sector. Inveraray and District Pipe Band are champions of champions this year and Oban High School Pipe Band are also champions of champions in their age group.

“This is particularly pleasing in the 40th year of the piping trust. The gathering committee provide substantial sums towards the tuition of piping in schools and we are very happy to see them being so successful.”

She added that the Corinthian cruise ship had docked at Oban’s North Pier to allow its passengers to attend the event.

Visitors enjoyed all of the usual stalls and attractions, including spectating at the piping, athletic and heavy competitions. Organisers noted an increase in the number of young men competing in the Highland dancing competitions.

There was even a grounds record broken in the athletics section when Alessandro Schenini from Glasgow triumphed in the long jump with a jump of 22ft 7ins. The previous record of 22ft 4.5ins was set by Alan Hamilton of Edinburgh in 2016.

Alasdair Cameron, head of the field set-up committee, said: “I watched the first march come into the field and it was packed. Members of the public were still coming in following the procession well after the piping had stopped.

“It was one of the busiest opening marches I have seen. A lot of the tickets were sold beforehand thanks to the cruise ship visiting.

“Having the Calcutta Cup on display was a popular attraction, a lot of people were having their pictures taken with it.”