Golspie teen mobilises VE Day planning team - pipers invited to join in war memorial 'Battle's O'er' tribute
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A LOCAL teenager has fired up planning for celebrations in Golspie to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day on May 8.
Liam Mackay, a Golspie High School pupil, read about national events to mark the milestone and was keen that his home village join in.
The 15-year-old, who is a member of Sutherland Schools Pipe Band and a Army cadet with the Brora detachment, initially approached band piping tutor Colin Melville for help.
Mr Melville said: “It all snowballed from there. Liam got in touch with Major General Patrick Marriott of Littleferry, who in turn referred him to Alisdair Miller, secretary of the local branch of armed forces charity SSAFA.
And it resulted in a VE day anniversary planning meeting in the village last Wednesday, attended by representatives from various groups including Golspie Heritage Society, community council and British Legion branch.
“Liam was at the meeting and introduced himself and spoke a little bit about how he saw the celebrations going and what had inspired him,” said Mr Melville. “Everyone was very impressed by his passion.”
Those present agreed that the village would join in with a national celebration which will see pipers across the country playing well-known tune Battle’s O’er at 3pm on the day. This will take place at Golspie War Memorial and it is hoped that as many pipers as possible will join in.
Mr Melville and Liam are in charge of the musical side of the event.
"We are going to gather video recordings of pipers playing “Battle’s O’er” all across Sutherland," said Mr Melville. "We will then combine them all into one video, as a collaborative piece of music."
Tentative plans are also being laid for a big community tea party at the heritage society’s headquarters following the musical tribute. The society put out an appeal last week for memorabilia related to VE day and an exhibition could be on the cards.
The planning group next meets on April 16.
To see what is being planned nationally, visit: www.veday75.org
