The Closing Ceremony of Highland 2007

A wee report back from Saturday night at the finale of Highland 2007.

I've finally thawed out and recovered from the event. It was a good night, with few casualties (well, as far as I heard), but it was very cold and incredibly crowded, which was expected anyway. It was hardly going to be a quiet celebration!

Anyway, keeping the story short, on arriving in Inverness we parked as near to the Red Cross HQ as possible, which ended up being in a Tesco car park, randomly enough. I think we attracted some attention; several first aiders clambering out of an emergency response vehicle and RC mini bus in high vis jackets with "British Red Cross" brandished across our clothes. We made our way to the office, where we met people from the Inverness crew, and I think some from Aberdeen too, and were then paired up and allocated our positions. It was a good opportunity to work with different volunteers who you didn't see each week at your local RC meetings. The two people who I worked with were both very nice and we got on well. Unfortunately we didn't actually get a chance to treat any casualties (of course, it's fortunate that people didn't hurt themselves!) but it does mean I still haven't had my chance to do something for real...maybe I shouldn't be complaining, but I want to be able to say I've had some real experience, not just in scenarios. Well, it is only the second duty of the year I suppose!

The whole celebration was basically a prosession, from the middle of Inverness to Kessock Bridge, where people carried small burning torches (again with the fire; anyone noticing a pattern here?). To see the long line of people drifting off into the distance, in the dark, lit only by the flames of their torches, was quite a sight. It gave a rare sense of community spirit. It was nice.

Of course, what with all the fire around there's bound to be some people abusing it. For example, one boy in particular who we aptly named "Numptie Boy" was swinging his torch around in all directions, as well as thrusting it into the faces of his mates 'as a joke'. Of course it wouldn't have been a joke if he had shoved it too far and burnt their eyebrows off or something. Later on we found "Numptie Boy" a girlfriend, who we also aptly named "Numptie Girl". You could say their relationship could become quite heated... ok, that was bad...

Anyway, the event ended with a spectacular fireworks display that someone said valued at around £300K. A lot of money for a firework display, but it was worth it, and even if it did end rather abruptly, it was still amazing to watch.

And of course, along the way there was music and entertainment at almost every corner, ranging from traditional Scottish pipe bands to salsa and samba.

By the end of the night, the only casualties we had heard of were the following: a collapse (which we actually responded to, and had the chance to run through the crowd in a very official manner, however another 'patrol' beat us to it), a woman who fainted (covered once again, but we stayed near for a moment in case we could offer any assisstance) and a diabetic woman who collapsed due to low blood sugars (covered, again, and was seemingly low enough to fall unconscious, however she was still going strong). A part from that, casualties were few and far between, which of course is a good thing.

After a busy night out on the streets, we returned to the office for some hot choccie and a chat, and once us Elgin lot had been reunited (which took a while) we headed off for home.

So now, I can't wait for the next opportunity to take part in a duty. Who knows where the next one will be, or what it will involve. I'd laugh if it included more fire.
No doubt I'll find out on Tuesday, the next time I venture into the Elgin Red Cross office.