After 400 years, Bermuda plunges into Highland games

After more than 400 years as part of the British Commonwealth country, the idyllic island nation of Bermuda will make a foray into the wonderful world of outdoor Scottish culture for the first time when the Caledonian Society of Bermuda hosts the Bermuda Highland Games on June 8th.

But while the event is importing the Atholl Highlanders Pipe Band from Perthshire, Scotland – complete with several Highland Society of London Gold Medallists in the ranks – no piping and drumming competitions will be on offer in the inaugural year.

A spokesman for the event said that, while piping and drumming competition won’t be staged in 2012, the games will be an opportunity for the Atholl Highlanders to “show off,” despite the group’s penchant for practicing only once every year. Among the top players in the band are Gold Medallists Jack Taylor and Bill Wotherspoon, and acclaimed pipers Ian Duncan and Adrian Cramb. Cramb is the Pipe-Major of the Grade 1 Robert Wiseman Dairies-Vale of Atholl Pipe Band.

Bermuda is an island of approximately 53 square kilometres and a population of about 64,000. Temperatures range from between 16- and 27-degress year-round.