Edinburgh Tattoo gives cherished sword gift to Wellington

A ceremonial broadsword has been presented to the Wellington City in the wake of the record-breaking performances by the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Mayor Celia Wade-Brown presented a ceremonial Scottish Officer broadsword bearing the Royal cipher at the full meeting of the Wellington City Council last night.

 

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Rt Hon Donald Wilson gave this sword to Wellington City on the eve of Sunday’s final Royal Edinburgh Tattoo performance at Westpac Stadium. The Mayor said the broadsword is an unending memento of the 2016 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in the Capital. The 2016 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo created history to be remembered as the biggest crowd puller than any show held in the Capital.

Edinburgh Tattoo Chief Executive and producer Brigadier David Allfrey said people of Wellington supported Tattoo warmly. A Scottish Officer’s Broadsword is given to the contingent each year at the Tattoo in Edinburgh who has the most contributions to the Tattoo. The sword is highly demanded and the winner is announced before the March Off in front of Edinburgh Castle at the close of the last performance of the summer.

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Westpac Stadium stages replica Edinburgh Castle for tattoo

It is looking Edinburgh Castle is right at home in Wellington's Westpac Stadium despite a long way from windy hills of Scotland. The Royal Military Edinburgh Tattoo comes to the town next week but a scale replica facade of the medieval castle needs to be built inside the stadium before 1200 performers join next Tuesday to rehearse for four nights of performance. A number of 60 people were working from 7am to 10pm each day to construct the castle which must be completed by lunch time on Sunday. Technical director Nick Kyle said 1200 sheets of plywood were used to make the castle.

 

A father-and-son team of scenic artists Kelvin and Louis Guy, who were brought over from the Scottish Opera hand-painted 90% of the panels. They got walls of the castle just right by working six days a week for two months. Kyle described it was a really nice challenge to set up a castle on a sports ground. He said it was a good experience to unite a bunch of really different people together like scaffolders because they do not do this kind of job, as they do buildings. He agreed building a castle on a sports pitch offered a few challenges.

He said we have to take care of the turf because we have to lay down 40 millimeters of ply any time we move anything like to drive a forklift anywhere. Kyle said they wrapped everything in plastic at the end of each night to protect it from the sprinklers needed to keep the turf fresh. Kyle seemed relaxed about the job ahead despite the intensity of the task facing him and his team where they are coordinating 1200 people with working out lights,sounds and fireworks.

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Gisborne and Sunbury duos will perform in Edinburgh Tattoo

The traditional and spectacular Edinburgh Military Tattoo will be in Melbourne this week for the first time in its 65-year-history and residents of and Sunbury and Gisborne will be performing there. Chris and Janet Bouwmeester of Gisborne and Sunbury’s Ian Thorn and Don MacLean are all members of the City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band which is among a diverse group of 1200 performers at the show. Mr Bouwmeester who is with the band for more than 30 years including a decade as president, he was excited to be performing in the five-show season of three-days at Etihad Stadium.

He said it is really going to be bigger and more spectacular than in Edinburgh because of the size of the venue but it has so much tradition as an event that it is really a once in a lifetime type achievement. The dance and performance has made tattoo more modren additional to the military marches the tattoo is famous for. Similarly Mr Bouwmeester said the band was feeling Melbourne a more modern. 

 

He added while piping and drumming is still the nature of the group but you do not need to be an old Scottish soldier to become a member because we have people of Chinese, European and Vietnamese descents these days. Mr Bouwmeester is now a snare drummer and his wife is a tenor drummer while Mr MacLean and Mr Thorn are both pipers. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is at 7pm on Friday and at 1pm and 7pm on Saturday-Sunday.

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Edinburgh Tattoo pipers relax on Melbourne beach between rehearsals

Edinburgh Military Tattoo pipers making preparations for a rare overseas performance have stopped rehearsals taking a break on an Australian beach.  Royal Dragoon Guards’ Adam Casey and Peter Crowe took a break from training and mixed up with other military pipers at Brighton beach in Melbourne on Tuesday. Royal Highland Fusiliers’Charles MacLean, Hugh Mackay from The Highlanders, Euan Jardine of Royal Scots Borderers and Alan Sharp from the RAF Pipes & Drums also relished the break on the beach.

About 1,200 pipers, drummers, dancers and musicians will participate in the three-night show in Etihad Stadium of Melbourne from Friday. The Tattoo is traditionally held on Edinburgh Castle’s floodlit esplanade and organizers have decided they will build a replica of the world-famous landmark to keep the backdrop for the Australian shows. The Tattoo has visited overseas only three times in 65 years and about 220,000 visitors have paid for the Tattoo since the last 16 seasons in Edinburgh.    

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