The Lonach Highland Gathering and Games was founded in 1823 by Sir Charles Forbes and is held on the fourth Saturday of August every year.
The annual event, known as the friendliest games in Scotland, includes Highland dancing, heavy events, hill races, a march and a pipe band.
After two years of holding the gathering virtually during the pandemic, the 179th event was held in person this weekend. To celebrate the game’s return, we’ve collected 14 photos of the event through the years from our archives.
Do you recognise any of the familiar faces in any of these photos? Have you ever attended the Lonach Gathering? Please let us know in the comments.
1990 – The oldest man in the Lonach march, 78-year-old Forbes Clark, of Lumsden, takes a drink with the youngest – Bruce Casely, 18, from Aberdeen.
1994 – Banners, beards and best feet forward as the Men of Lonach, led by the pipe band, stride out.
1988 – Drum Major Ian Morrison has a dram while young piper Michael Laing, of Kildrummy, prefers a glass of orange on one of the stops.
1981 – Australian Ian Bremner, from New South Wales, has the broom adjusted on his Balmoral by Gordon McCombie, from Tarland, before setting off.
1980 – Drum Major Bert Summers, of Turriff, helps arrange the plaid of 14-year-old John Petrie, of Corgarff, before they set out.
1978 – Crispin Biggs, 6, of Cookney, tops up the glass of George Gordon during a break in the march.
1957 – Admiral Sir Rhoderick McGrigor speaks to Mrs Wallace Candacraig at the Lonach Gathering.
1951 – J McLellan, of Kildary, who won the 16lb hammer event, demonstrates his skills.
1953 – Lonach Highlanders embarking on their famous march in 1953.
1985 – Drum Major Ian Morrison with Fiona Beaton, left, of Forres, and Caroline Wallace, of Strathdon.
1989 – Stuart Milne, of Strathdon, with son Andrew, 2, and daughter Michelle, 4.
1929 – Duncan MacPherson, the oldest clansman of the time, addresses the Lonach Highlanders by megaphone in this photograph, thought to be from 1929.
1956 – J Scott throwing the heavy stone at the Lonach Games in 1956.
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GALLERY: 14 snaps of the Lonach Gathering through the decades
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