Perth has enjoyed a remarkable year of events which have brought tens of thousands of visitors to the city, Provost Liz Grant told the annual dinner of the Society of High Constables of the City of Perth.
The weeping poppies installation, the mini Edinburgh Tattoo and the Christmas lights event surpassed all expectations she told the gathering in the Salutation Hotel.
“This year looks as if it has been the most successful ever Christmas lights switch-on, with over 40,000 people attending the event and many city centre businesses – particularly the restaurants and cafes – reporting their busiest weekend,” she said.
“Coupled with that, the next day, we had the very successful launch of the community element of our bid for the UK City of Culture emphasising our themes of a fair city, a city of light and a connected and green city.
“Our whole event offering this year has been the best ever highlighting Perth’s place in both the historic and modern stories of Scotland.
“All were well attended with the mini Edinburgh Tattoo being a particular highlight, held to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the Treaty of Perth and the 60th anniversary of our twinning with Aschaffenburg in Germany.
“As part of the celebrations we welcomed a contingent of Norwegians, including the King of Norway’s personal guard and in attendance was the Honorary Consul of Norway and the General of the Norwegian army who flew over from Denmark especially for the occasion accompanied by the Norwegian naval attache from London.”
The weeping poppies, which attracted more than 113,000 people to The Black Watch Museum, was a high point of the past 12 months, said the Provost.
“I had the pleasure of visiting the sculpture on a number of occasions with my overseas guests, including our twinning partners, as part of our twinning celebrations this year,” she said.
“It was an absolute pleasure to see this exhibition hosted in a spirit of partnership and of course a positive tribute to the sacrifices the poppies represent.”
Among the other speakers at the dinner were the governor of Edinburgh Castle Major General Mike Riddell-Webster, Sheriff Principal Tayside, Central and Fife Marysia Lewis, and the moderator of the Society of High Constables of Edinburgh, James Raeburn.
Other top table guests included the depute chief executive of Perth and Kinross Council Jim Valentine, deputy first minister John Swinney, Lord Lieutenant of Perth and Kinross Brigadier Mel Jameson, Naval Regional Commander Scotland and Northern Ireland Captain Chris Smith, Air Officer Scotland Air Vice Marshall Ross Paterson, commanding officer 51st Highland, 7th Battalion the Royal of Scotland Lt Col Piers Strudwick, and Superintendent Jim Leslie of Police Scotland.