Tartan takeover in lead-up to Highland Games

Bermuda will tonight take on a Scottish flavour as traditional Highland dancers from Canada join their island counterparts at the Beating Retreat ceremony at Dockyard.

The MacKenzie School of Dance from Canada with join the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band dancers for the military pomp and circumstance spectacular, which starts at 8.30pm.

The Canadian dancers will be back in action at Wednesday’s Harbour Nights in Hamilton, appearing at 7.45pm outside the Pickled Onion.

And on Friday – on the eve of the main Bermuda Highland Games event – some of the performers will stage a lunchtime show on the steps of City Hall in Hamilton.

The Mackenzie dancers and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police dancers will appear at noon.

Later that day, the Shiehallion Dancers, also from Canada, and the RCMP Pipe Band will appear at the Hamilton Princess happy hour, which will be followed by a ceilidh – a night of traditional Scottish dancing – starting at 9pm.

The island’s second Highland Games, organised by the island’s Caledonian Society and featuring a host of events and attractions, starts at 2.30pm on Saturday at the Saltus Field in Pembroke.