{"id":116341,"date":"2025-06-21T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=116341"},"modified":"2025-06-19T09:33:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T23:33:23","slug":"group-plans-return-of-highland-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/group-plans-return-of-highland-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Group plans return of Highland Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLANNING for a Geelong Highland Games and Celtic Festival is in full swing, with a small committee of people hopeful of holding the event in Bannockburn in February 2026.<\/p>\n

Highland games are a unique form of entertainment combining athleticism, music and ancient Scottish culture.<\/p>\n

They usually consist of a programme of track and field events, piping, dancing and heavy sports like tug-o-war, the hammer throw and tossing the caber.<\/p>\n

Festival committee member Craig Monument said aspirations were high for a unique celebration of Scottish culture next year.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been working closely with Golden Plains Shire Council who are very keen to host the games in Bannockburn.<\/p>\n

“We’ve pulled together a committee and are basically getting all the important pieces set up to form a not-for-profit organisation and then we will be into raising funds to make it happen.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The hammer throw will be a popular addition to the Geelong Highland Games and Celtic Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The heavy events will be front and centre as well as pipe bands, dancers and some form of folk music tents.”<\/p>\n

Mr Monument said an event of this nature had not been run in Geelong since 2019, but was in high demand.<\/p>\n

“Wherever I go in Geelong, people are very interested as to when the Highland Games are coming back.<\/p>\n

“The hope is to have a big celebration but we’ve got to walk before we run.<\/p>\n

“We do have some good plans for getting this first one off the ground and then we will look to see how we can expand and make it more successful.”<\/p>\n

For more information on the Geelong Highland Games and Celtic Festival at Bannockburn, email craig@roselea.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLANNING for a Geelong Highland Games and Celtic Festival is in full swing, with a small committee of people hopeful of holding the event in Bannockburn in February 2026. Highland games are a unique form of entertainment combining athleticism, music and ancient Scottish culture. They usually consist of a programme of track and field events, […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":116406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-116341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGroup plans return of Highland Games - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Geelong Highland Games and Celtic Festival is set to return in Bannockburn in 2026, reviving Scottish culture and heavy sports.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/group-plans-return-of-highland-games\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Group plans return of Highland Games - 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