Hogmanay celebrations kick off 2014

Fireworks explode over Edinburgh Castle. Picture: Jane Barlow

OFFICIALS at New Year festivities across Scotland joined forces last night to launch the nation’s year in the international limelight with a bang.

The country’s first ever collective Hogmanay celebration saw extra fireworks displays, dramatic searchlight effects and burning sculptures thrill crowds at outdoor events across Scotland.

Highlights of the linked festivities in Edinburgh, Stirling, Inverness and Stonehaven – which cost £400,000 – were shown live on television in Scotland and footage of the flagship celebrations in the capital was screened to more than a billion people in 150 countries.

The extra funding for this year’s joined-up celebration was awarded to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay producers Unique Events to stage a high-profile launch to Scotland’s second Year of Homecoming in 2014.

It aims to capitalise on the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup being held in Scotland this year, as well as the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.

Fireworks sequences which were launched at exactly 20:14 had been specially designed to create giant saltire and thistle effects for the “Scotland’s Big Year Starts Here” theme of the joint displays.

A short film only completed hours before the celebrations got under way was also shown on giant screens at the various events. It featured a cyclist visiting iconic locations across Scotland including the Nevis Range in Fort William, the Forth Bridges, the Hydro and velodrome venues in Glasgow, Gleneagles golf course, the new Kelpies horse-head sculptures near Falkirk and Bannockburn battlefield.

Edinburgh’s world-famous Hogmanay event in Princes Street and the Gardens beneath the castle drew an international attendance of more than 75,000.

The flagship concert was headlined by English pop duo Pet Shop Boys and an open-air ceilidh, which sold out after a late rush for party passes following a dramatic improvement in the weather in the city.