Perthshire brought in 2019 in style with dazzling New Year events.
Hogmanay kicked off in Comrie with the village’s annual flambeaux parade.
The traditional torch-bearing procession has taken place for as long as anyone can remember and is kept alive by a dedicated group of volunteers.
A fancy dress parade and fireworks display marked the start of the festivities, before the main event at the stroke of midnight.
Long birch poles were lit with tarred rags at midnight carried through the centre of Comrie, accompanied by a pipe band, before the torches were cast over the Dalginross Bridge into the waters of the River Earn.
It is unclear how and when the flambeaux began, but it is believed to be based on an ancient pagan celebration.
The act is thought to drive away bad spirits and provides a clean slate for the year to come.
There were fireworks aplenty in Aberfeldy as crowds gathered in the town square for the Hogmanay festival. They enjoyed a live band, food and a piper before counting in 2019.
The grounds of Scone Palace were filled with revellers for the racecourse’s popular Hogmanay bash. Partygoers danced the night away with a ceilidh and a disco before tucking into haggis, neeps and tatties.
Yesterday the celebrations continued in Highland Perthshire as people flocked to Pitlochry for an afternoon of ceilidh dancing, entertainment, food and mulled wine.
But the new year meant the end of two of Blairgowrie’s long-running traditions. Both the January 1 Fun Run and New Year’s Day Walk held yesterday will be the last.
The run was in its 35th year while the walk marked its 15th and final year.
Organiser and former councillor Bob Ellis, the man credited for creating the Cateran Trail, announced in December he will be standing down, with no one in place to take over.
The first fun run was the brainchild of Iain Smith, who was manager of the Blairgowrie Recreation Centre, and then organised by Councillor John Wilson. Both routes followed Brown Street, High Street, Perth Street, Perth Road, Golf Course Road, Coupar Angus Road and finished in Wellmeadow, outside Davidson’s Chemist.
