The Voice of Glengarry Highland Games is its guest of honor from 2024

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MAXVILLE — The 75th annual Glengarry Highland Games has selected a special local guest of honor for its Diamond Milestone event, which is expected to draw thousands to the region Aug. 2-3.

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Almost anyone who has been to the games over the last 30 years, before his retirement as MC in 2019, would recognize Reg Gamble’s clear and booming voice — whether it was announcing packed lineups coming onto the field or welcoming guests to the stage during the tattoo.

“I’m not a prime minister, a star hockey player or a hero… that’s why I feel very humbled (to be the guest of honour). I’m very proud to have been asked and I hope I can do it justice,” said Gamble. “It will be an exciting thing for me as well. With the exception of Don, my family are all gone… you couldn’t have lived in our house without knowing what the Glengarry Highland Games were and knowing what they meant to us and the community.”

Gamble said he recently discovered some interesting information about how he thinks the Glengarry Highland Games really came about; he will share during his speech, which he has already begun to prepare.

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As the middle child of Don “Doc” Gamble and Violet May of Maxville, Reg Gamble could be called one of the “sons of the Glengarry Highland Games”. It was Don and Peter MacInnes who decided in 1948 that the Glengarry area needed a Scottish festival to celebrate Celtic traditions.

Gamble said his father originally came to Maxville to play for the Maxville Millionaires hockey team and fell in love with the bagpipes. This is how MacInnes and the rest of the “Famous Glengarry Five” were connected, including Osie F. Villeneuve, John D. McRae and Clark Hoople.

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“Make no mistake about it, there was more than just my dad involved in these games. It was my mother and Peter MacInnes’ wife who were extremely involved, and Osie Villeneuve’s wife,” Gamble said.

Attendees can expect nostalgic anecdotes during Gamble’s talk, who said he intimately remembers how gaming has evolved over the years.

“Reg has humbly accepted this invitation (as guest of honour) and I’m sure his father (Don, now deceased), one of the co-founders of the games, along with me, his grandson, will be beaming with pride,” said nephew, also called Don Gamble.

Passionate about Highland Games events, Reg was one of the founders of the North Lanark Highland Games in Almonte in 1983, with the first event taking place in 1984. Serving as MC for the North Lanark Highland Games for 35 consecutive years, he was chosen as guest. of honor at those 2018 games for service to the event and the community. His experience as an MC in Almonte led him to try his skills in Glengarry, first in 1990, writing the entire program on his old Underwood typewriter.

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Before stepping into organizing roles on the organizing committee, Gamble first played tenor drum with the Glengarry Pipe Band in 1965. Moved on to become Glengarry’s first drum major in 1967. In the same year he became tenor drummer for the RCAF Rockcliffe Pipe Band, winning silver at the North American Grade 1 Championships at Glengarry . Highland Games with drum band in first place.

In 2016, Gamble was awarded the Sir John A. Macdonald Award by the St. Andrew Society of Ottawa for “bringing honor and recognition to the Scottish community in the National Capital Region”.

To find out more about the 2024 Glengarry Highland Games line-up, including ticket information, visit www.glengarryhighlandgames.com.

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