Harpenden Highland Gathering 2010

[OC Richard]

Over here in the USA, we never hear about Highland Games in England.

How common are they? Are there Games in every major region as there are here?

What is the size of the Harpenden Games, for example the number of attendees overall, the number of Pipe Bands?

The link gave only Solo Piping competiton results, but the photos showed a few Pipe Bands. Are a few bands paid to play? (This happens here at some Games which are too small to have a Pipe Band competition.)

Do people used to attending English Highland Games find, when they visit Highland Games in Scotland, any marked differences? Or visa versa, would someone accustomed to Games in Scotland be struck by any differences if they visited Harpenden?

My personal example of this sort of thing was when our pipe band travelled to Scotland to compete in 2007 and arrived at our first Games there, North Berwick.

Our largest Southwestern USA Games (Pleasanton, held annually since 1865) feature large crowds of people (maybe 40,000 or so each day Saturday and Sunday) and around 25 to 30 pipe bands.

North Berwick is a small town surrounded by lovely countryside, and the attendance appeared to be rather small. The overal feeling was more like a "town picnic" in a small town here, rather than a major public event like our Highland Games are.

But... we were amazed when coach after coach pulled up, over sixty in all, each disgorging a complete fully dressed Pipe Band.
65 Pipe Bands in a small town Games! The largest Games in the USA feature around 30 bands.

What is the Pipe Band "scene" in the London area like? How many bands? Mostly competition bands or noncompetition bands? Do bands have to travel long distances to compete, as they often do here in the USA? (Unlike Scotland where there's a large number of Games in a small area.)