The Proclaimers at Edinburgh Castle

Trees? Yes, because I flew up to Edinburgh on Saturday to see Zac Ware, my “Roving Reporter” (posts 30/31 March), who plays guitar and pedal steel for The Proclaimers, a very popular Scottish band who were given their own concert at Edinburgh Castle. Zac has been a bit of a failure lately as a roving reporter because, although he has dutifully taken lots of great tree photos for me, he has been too hectic “roving” the World with the band to email them to me- but this will be rectified shortly.

Having been born in Edinburgh, I regard it as my hometown so am always happy to go there. I was given a fantastic seat in a box, high up in the grandstand on the castle esplanade, immediately facing the stage.

Coincidentally, adjacent to me and on my level was the top floor flat in Ramsey Gardens where my parents had lived until shortly before my birth- the prospect of manoeuvring two small children up 100 odd steps to the flat daunting my mother, in spite of the unbeatable views across Edinburgh. And there was the balcony where- as I got very tired (jealous?) of hearing- my brother Charles used to sleep in his Moses basket, only to be woken by the 1 o’clock firing of Mons Meg, the cannon on the castle ramparts.

This being prior to the Second World War when my parents had become staunch pacifists, my mother used to say how she was ashamed when she secretly felt her Scottish blood being stirred as the Highland regiments paraded on the Esplanade, to the emotional sound of their bagpipes.

The second image below shows Zac, before the concert started, pointing to this historic balcony where his father used to lie.

The other images are of the concert- Zac, the Rover, wearing a red cowboy style shirt bought in Los Angeles.

The Proclaimers performed magnificently and their fans were ecstatic, their rocking of the grandstand making photography difficult.












The Proclaimers