Edinburgh Hogmanay begins with the Torchlight parade 2023 

Moved to Edinburgh in 1976 for my husband to pursue his dream of doing the RHS Diploma in Horticulture at the Botanic Gardens. We sacrificed so much to get him there and we’re worried that we would be isolated from family and good friends we had in Northumberland. We needn’t have worried! Not only did Brian meet lots of students one course at the RBG but I became friends with loads of lovely people I worked with at the various branch libraries and then the Central Library I worked at! One Hogmanay, I’d had a baby, then 8 months old. I’d been out working at a local restaurant owned by none other than Rod Stewart’s cousin, RON , then went home to commence presiding over procedings at our Hogmanay party. Our 8 mont old daughter Emma, was standing up in her lobster pot playpen and taking in all the procedings while being made a fuss of by all our friends! Nobody was as surprised as me, when at about 2.15am my husband answered the door to a bagpiper in full highland regalia who came in to play for us! Maybe he thought we were a booking or not, I don’t know! We lived in the tiny lodge at the gates of a huge house called East Morningside House and Brian was their gardener in return for the rent. If Mr Bagpiper was expecting to reap lucrative rewards that particular Hogmanay, he would have been sadly disappointed! 😂 For is however, it was the best New Years Eve, either before or after Edinburgh! Our stint there ended in 1979 when Brian graduated from the RBG. We moved back to Hexham where horticulture in various forms became the mainstay of our lives. My then little daughter Emma followed in her fathers footsteps until alas, she was struck down at the age of 29 with Multiple Sclerosis! Now at nearly 46, she is unable to get around at all. She is confined to her wheelchair and relies on carers to get washed, dressed, go out, for meals and more or less everything. My wonderful girl however, remains very positive and up beat. She still puts others before herself and has a heart of gold. She used to teach before she had to retire due to her ill health and taught students that other teachers were reluctant to deal with. She always saw in every one of them some potential for good no matter what it might be. She is an inspiration to many people even though she is confined to home such a lot. I’m so proud of ma wee little Scottish lassie born in Auld Reekie on Valentines Day in 1978! She kept her wee Highland Terrier Dug babble Walker for YEARS after we moved back to Sassenach country! Ps, my paternal grannie was Scottish and was a Music Hall performer. She and her husband Dalton Payne had an act together and toured all the then Commonwealth. Her stage name was Flora MacDonald. Real name, Mary Muir. x ❤️🙏💞🙏🌹❤️

Scotland is so cool with its traditions!

What a great event, thank you for sharing it with us... Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family.

Brilliant! I was one of the pipers, which was a pretty awesome experience as always. It's so good to see what was going on behind us from the heart of the procession, thank you 😊 Happy New Year 🎉

Thanks! Much love to you all❤

I was in and it was very nice to be part of this celebration, I love the mini vikings so cute!

I was the drummer on the phone not knowing where to go. Thanks for the call out!🤣

We did the torchlight procession back in 2015 it was wonderful, and we were picking wax of our coats for months afterward. Edinburgh's Hogmanay is the best!

Good to see more of the city being used. Remember when it used to leave from Parliament Square, outside St Giles, down The Mound, along Princes Street to Calton Hill for more entertainment and fireworks! It would often be a case that the fireworks were over and the tail end would just be leaving Parliament Square. The “river of torches” down the mound and along Princes Street was a spectacle in itself. The mix of nationalities, both resident and visiting, taking part and made to feel welcome made you proud to be Scottish!

Thank you for sharing this experience with us! Happy Hogmanay!🎆

Hope you and your family had a great Christmas happy new year keep up the great work

Happy Hogmanay Tony. The Wee Woman looking great. Take Care.

What a fun thing to do to start the weekend of celebration!

Oh that was lovely. Left Edinburgh nearly 55 years ago but still miss it so much at Hogmanay. Many thanks and a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year to you and Kirsten and the wee ones.

Happy Hogmanay! I’ve never much cared for New Year’s traditions here in the US (at least we do sing a Rabbie Burns song), but a torch-lit parade with Vikings and pipe bands looks and sounds like a proper celebration. ❤

Did the torchlight parade in 2017 when the theme word was #BRAW It was an amazing night. Hope to do it again someday.

This looks so amazing!! I went to Hogmanay for my first time last year and it was mental!! I wanted to do this torch parade so badly but they didn’t do it and now seeing the electric atmosphere has got me all emotional! Happy new year and thank you for sharing this!

Tony - that was awesome!! Looked like so much fun.

That looked incredible!! Part of me would love to be part of that some day, but part of me would not be so comfortable in a crowd like that. It is truly amazing to watch though! Thank you for sharing your very cool perspective!! Happy 2024 to you and yours!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Bliadhna Mhath Ur 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (Happy New Year) It's a brilliant celebration for everyone to take part in...thank you for the footage Tony and Kirsten, I just wish I could have been there...sadly the heart failure said no. Here's to a happy and peaceful 2024 for everyone

Thank you so much for sharing this! I LOVED it - felt like I was walking along with y’all! I love Scotland!

🎉🥳🍻 Fr Toronto happy new years 🎉🥳🥳🎉

Very cool!! I love the way you celebrate there. Nice to see Kirsten again! Thanks for sharing.

I so wish I was there with you! I just love the sound of the pipes😂

Thank you so much for the great video! I would so love to experience that in person but cannot afford it 😔 I wish ypu and your family a great new years even and Happy New Year 🎉

Nice to see Kirstin again even for a bit.

So sad to have missed it, thank you for filming it, hope to be there next year!

the pipers @4:40 sound AMAZING

So cool! Looked like great fun. My 20% Scot heritage is wishing me to be there!

Oh no can’t believe we missed you! Glad you enjoyed it too 🔥

Thank you Tony and Kirsten for sharing the amazing spectacular of the torchlight parade. Wishing you and your family a very happy new year and look forward to seeing Edinburgh and Scotland through your eyes in 2024.

How fun was that! Happy Hogmanay to you!

Good video 👍 Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year 🍺

🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀Happy Hogmanay🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀 Love from Sweden

Happy Hogmanay all. 👏👏👏

Wonderful to see this! 🔥

Happy New Year and many many blessings to you and your family ❤️

Well, that was cool. Thanks for it. I'll keep watching to see the rest of it, I'm sure it's really fun, festive, and fantastic.

That looks like a lot of fun. Happy Hogmanay Tony, Kirsten, Lillian, Marty and the doggies. ❤

Fantastic, thank you so much for showing us this!!! Exciting! Hope to come at that time of year sometime - I've been to Ed twice and neeeeed to come back. Thanks for keeping us (me) up to date. (p.s. New camera? You're looking at yourself. Yoohoo, we're over here! 😁)

Wow Tony, i did enjoy that, it brought a smile to my face.That was totally awesome, makes you proud to be a Scotsman.

Great video Tony, you even managed to get me I this video...

Amazing video Tony.

so glad to see the Torch parade back

Great video!

Great Video Tony, I hope a good Christmas was had by you all. Best wishes for 2024 and many more videos 👍🥃

I'm pleased I stopped up to watch your vid Tony as that was really cool. What a fabulous event for those taking part and the spectators too, it was great stuff. BTW, thanks for the entertainment this year (and other years!) - Happy New Year to you, Kirsten and your bairns 😊

Thanks

I do miss this every year due to work. You can’t beat the beltane drummers Cos they know how to stir up the Celtic from inside. Am glad you have fire 🔥 on a stick when it almost a 0 degrees night. You can’t get be more Scottish with a pipe band. Are you allowed to keep the torch at the end? Seeing you paid for it

Hey Tony I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas 🎄 the new video was fantastic and it was great to see you and kirsten on camera 📷 again 😀

I'm home sick .🎉

That did look like a lot of fun! Happy Hogmanay/Happy New Years Kirsten and Tony, Lillian and Marty! BTW.....It's good to see Kirsten in a Broonford video again!

I always knew that there was something odd about the Royal Mile & branching streets. There was something missing. Then on my last Trip? I worked out what it was! No Lamp-posts!!! As the Steetlights are on the Buildings. Strange...

Does the torchlight procession begin on the 31st December?

Tony, were the 'vikings' from Shetland, if they were it would make sense given their Up Helly Aa celebrations at the end of January each year?

Did u not want to say hello