Plenty to Celebrate on St Andrew’s Day

Dunedin (Thursday, 21 November 2013) – Don your tartan, pack your pipes and prepare to celebrate!

On Saturday 30 November, the city will be buzzing with excitement and activity as the Glasgow 2014 Queen’s Baton Relay arrives amid St Andrew’s Day celebrations. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland.

The afternoon will include a varied range of Scottish entertainment, from pipe bands and marching and dancing displays to Scottish sports.

Dunedin City Council Community Events Co-ordinator Marilyn Anderson says, “This will be a fantastic afternoon for the whole family. There will also be a chance to see the Queen’s Baton up close and have your photo taken with it and one of New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games athletes.

“With a University of Otago graduation and cruise ship visitors in the city as well, there will be a wonderful and lively atmosphere.”

Festivities will begin at 2pm with a pipe band spectacle called ‘The March on the Cross of St Andrew”, where four Dunedin pipe bands will march from four parts of the Octagon, depicting a cross. They will march to a single point in the Octagon carriageway where they will be greeted by a Mayoral representative. The massed bands will then play for about 10 minutes.

At 2.30pm, the Baton will leave the Dunedin Railway Station and be escorted along Stuart Street. Children from ANZ's Olympic Schools programme will run with the Baton from the Station along Stuart Street.

The Baton was launched at Buckingham Palace by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who placed her message to the Commonwealth inside it. The Baton will have visited 14 countries before its four-day New Zealand visit.

The Baton will be welcomed into the Octagon by a salute from the Robbie Burns cannon sited beside the Robert Burns statue. It will be greeted by a Mayoral representative and New Zealand Chef de Mission Rob Waddell.

Mike Chunn from Play it Strange will then announce the winner of the Baton Song Competition for Otago schools. The crowd will hear the first public performance of the winning song. For the rest of the afternoon there will be plenty of local entertainment, including Scottish country dancing, Highland dancing, a Ceilidh band and Scottish sports.

In the case of wet weather, Saturday’s events will be held at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.

Dunedin is the last New Zealand stop for the Queen’s Baton, which then heads to Kiribati.

The St Andrew’s Day celebrations have been organised by a range of groups, including the DCC, the Otago Scottish Heritage Council, the Caledonian Society of Otago Inc and NZCG Glasgow.

ENDS

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