A north-east man has become the first ever bagpiper to claim a place in the Guinness World Records.
Rikki Evans made history by playing the instrument for 24 hours at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow earlier this year.
But before the 28-year old, of Portlethen, could officially be entered into the record books he had to submit videos of his performance to Guinness – and endured a long four-month wait for four months for confirmation of his achievement.
Now however,it has been confirmed and the delighted police
controller described it as a “great early Christmas present”.
He said: “I’m just so happy after hearing the news today. It’s amazing to think that I actually hold a Guinness world record, but all the more so because I am the first solo piper to be included in the book.
“I’m just so relieved that all my hard work has finally paid off.
Mr Evans prepared for his epic feat by practising at St Margaret’s Church in Aberdeen.
As somebody involved in bagpipes and as a member of a band since he was at primary school, he knew that making history would be tough.
But he added: “I’ve been involved in playing the pipes for over 20 years, so it’s not as I don’t have plenty of experience and I got lots of encouragement from people all across Scotland.
“Nobody had ever succeeded with anything on this scale before. So that only makes this feel even sweeter at the moment.”
The pipeathon record was first attempted in 2013 by a piper in Las Vegas, but was not officially noted in the record books as he only managed seven hours and 14 minutes – despite doing 18 hours on a practice run.
During the challenge, Mr Evans raised money for charities Clan Cancer Support, Portlethen and District Pipe Band, Cash for Kids, The Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust and the National Piping Centre – with his total already sitting at more than £6,000.
Now, in a final bid to reach his £10,000 target, Mr Evans has decided to auction off the two sets of McCallum pipes he played to achieve his record breaking feat. They will be sold on Mr Evan’s Pipeathon Facebook page in February.