2012 :Rhona Simpson

Former Scotland Hockey Captain & Commonwealth Games Board Member 2014

My sporting career as a hockey player includes competing in two Olympic Games (Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000) three Commonwealth Games (Kuala Lumpur 1998, Manchester 2002 and Melbourne 2006) and two World Cups (Australia 1998 and Holland 2002).

I am Scotland’s most-capped hockey player and also Scotland’s top goalscorer. I have coached Scotland’s U18 and U21National Teams and was part of the coaching team for the Great Britain Youth Olympic squad in 2009, which won gold at the Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney.
I am the athlete representative on the Glasgow 2014 Board and am looking forward to working with the Board and fellow athletes to deliver the best possible Games and experience for each athlete in Glasgow 2014.

I am also only one of two Scottish Athlete Mentors for the Youth Sports Trust who travel round the UK delivering my sporting story to young people.

In my professional life I am Director of Sport at a leading independent school in Glasgow and a teacher of Physical Education. 

Rhona Simpson

2011 : Sean Batty

Sean Batty is known for being STV’s weather forecaster, where he has been working for the last 4 years, however, his TV career didn’t start there. His first TV appearance was for BBC North back in 2005. Sean’s passion for weather started when he was just 7 years old and was given a BBC weather presenting kit for his birthday. From that point on there was no turning back for the Paisley boy as he concentrated all his efforts on reaching his dream to become a weather forecaster.

At 18 Sean left Scotland to study meteorology at Reading University, at that time, the only place in the UK to offer pure meteorology courses.

His first job was with the Met Office working at an army base in Hampshire. At Middle Wallop, the School of Army Aviation, he worked as a weather observer keeping the crew and air traffic control updated on flight conditions. At the time he started it involved some very late nights as there was plenty of training for the apache pilots ahead of their operations in Iraq.

His career branched into media when he started working at ITV Weather alongside the likes of Sian Lloyd and Martyn Davies in London. At ITV he prepared forecasts and graphics for the national and local ITV broadcasts. Working at ITV gave him a taste of working in TV, albeit behind the scenes. His next job took him to the BBC in London where he made his first TV and radio broadcasts. His TV training was by people such as Carol Kirkwood, Daniel Corbett and the famous, for all the wrong reasons, Michael Fish.

At the BBC he was a regional broadcaster and presented the weather in Northern Ireland, Wales/Cymru, the Channel Islands, London, the West Country and Northern England. His only un-aired area was Scotland, but that was all about to change when he was headhunted by STV News.

STV brought Sean back to Scotland and to this day he appears on our televisions every weekday. At STV Sean presents 15 broadcasts a day for STV Central News, STV Edinburgh News, STV Glasgow News and also STV North. Apart from weather Sean enjoys playing the rises and falls of the stock market, gardening, politics and has a real passion for all things Scottish. Currently he is learning to speak Scottish Gaelic and hopes to use it more in the future, perhaps on the weather forecasts. He also prides himself on having a Clan Stewart family background.

2010 : David Hayman – Actor and Funder of Spirit Aid, a Short Biography.

David Hayman grew up as one of three children in a working class family in Drumchapel, Glasgow.   Leaving school without any academic qualifications he started work as a would-be engineer at 16.  One day, wearing his grease stained  boiler suit, he marched into the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and announced his intention to become an actor.  He still has no idea where this came from, he is basically a shy person and there was no family history of acting.  He took advice and joined an amateur dramatics group and a year later was accepted to study drama and has never been out of work since.  His film and television credits are frankly much too numerous to list but include his superb portrayal of hard man Jimmy Boyle in “Sense of Freedom” and, of course, he is recognisable everywhere as Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Walker in Linda La Plante’s long running Trial and Retribution series.

Away from acting, David established his Glasgow-based charity Spirit Aid in 2001.  It has gone on to become one of Scotland’s most successful small scale humanitarian organisations.  He spends several months every year visiting his charity’s relief projects where he employs indigenous workers wherever possible.  His fundraising operations include Operation Loo Roll, a project selling toilet paper that raised  £100,000 in 2007.

David Hayman is justifiably proud when he talks about how his charity spends its money, a school in South Africa, an orphanage in Sri Lanka, an Aids crèche in Malawi and many more.
Here on Bute his involvement and commitment have inspired and motivated an entire school, teachers, pupils and parents alike.  Rothesay Academy has formed a partnership with a school in the village of Muloza in Malawi. This will culminate this summer with staff and pupils from Rothesay visiting Muloza and Malawian teachers and children visiting Rothesay at the time of the Highland Games.  The Scottish pupils will visit sites where their fundraising has helped Spirit Aid set up two creches and a soup kitchen.

When not earning a living, inspiring others to help those who are in most need,  David Hayman remains based in Glasgow with his wife, Alice and their sons, David, Sammy and Sean.

2009 : A Memorable Day for Games Chieftain

Blythe Duff

Actress Blythe Duff accepted an invitation to be the Chieftain of Bute Highland Games on 22nd August, 2009.

The Taggart star who has a holiday home on the island took centre stage at the busiest event on the island’s calendar.

Before presenting the trophies to the pipe band winners Blythe, wearing an appropriate and stylish designer creation for the occasion, was full of praise for the organising committee and all the competitors who took part in the Games.  In her own words….

“It has been a wonderful day and it has been the most memorable of my life.  If today you have pulled a muscle or cricked your neck, just imagine what its like to be a competitor.  To the people of Bute, whose sense of community and hospitality has today made Scotland proud – may your spirit continue to flourish, and may your ferries always be full”. 

Blythe now joins a host of Bute Highland Games Chieftains which have included HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay; entertainer Johnny Beattie; writer and trade unionist Jimmy Reid and most recently Johnny Bute, the 7th Marquess of Bute.

Blythe had always heard wonderful stories of magical holidays in Rothesay and on The Isle of Bute. Her mother Christina used to holiday here, as did thousands of others, so she is genuinely honoured to be Chieftain of this year’s Bute Highland Games, particularly in this special Homecoming Year. Having a second home on the island, she is delighted, that along with her family, she has had the chance to acquaint herself with all that the island has to offer. She is encouraged by the recent investment in the island with developments in the inner harbour, the new school campus, the emergence of a new marina at Port Bannatyne, and has seen at first hand, the generosity of the islanders in the creation of the wonderful Callum's Cabin. It has proved a wonderful haven of calm from her busy work schedule.

Blythe was born in East Kilbride and has lived all her life in the West of Scotland. It was as a teenager that Blythe found her love of drama, performing with various youth groups, and on leaving school she joined the Glasgow Arts Centre's Youth Opportunities Theatre Company, 'The Company' and gained the much needed experience, touring schools, prisons and community centres.

Having spent two summer seasons as a student with the Scottish Youth Theatre, she landed her first professional job in 1983, a joint production with SYT and the Traverse Theatre Company. Working in the Theatre has remained an important part of Blythe's career, touring the country with all the major Scottish theatre companies such as, The Lyceum, The Citizens, TAG, Cumbernauld, Communicado, The Traverse and Wildcat, during which, she had the privilege of playing the Rothesay Pavilion. It was in 1989 that she made her West End debut playing Shirley Kaplan in Scottish Opera/ENO's production of 'Street Scene' at The Coliseum. In 2003 she played Deborah in the European premier of the hit show 'Mum's the Word' reprising her role, for an extensive tour of New Zealand. Most recently she returned to London's west end and toured Britain, with the award winning National Theatre of Scotland/The Donmar Warehouse playing Mrs Poole in the highly acclaimed production of 'Be Near Me'

She has performed on the concert platform most notably in Sound Bites for Scottish Opera, The Burns Bicentennial Concert, and narrated The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra with the BBC Symphony Orchestra broadcast live on Radio three. Having worked in radio drama in her early career, she has recently contributed to the Complete works of Robert Burns for the BBC. 

Blythe's long list of television credits range from Travel shows to Antiques programmes and from 'Ready Steady Cook', to 'Songs of Praise', but, she is undoubtedly best known for her role as Detective Sergeant Jackie Reid in the ever popular series 'Taggart' the longest running detective drama on British TV, having just celebrated it's 25th year, and over 100 episodes.... that's a lot of dead bodies!

She is a patron of Scottish Youth Theatre and an Ambassador in Scotland for The Prince's Trust.

Chieftains

2012   Rhona Simpson Former Scotland and Great Britain Olympic Hockey Player
2011   Sean Batty Meteoroligst and STV Weather Forecaster
2010   David Hayman Scottish Film and Television Actor and Director
2009   Blythe Duff Scottish Actress       
2008   John Colum Crichton Stuart 7th Marquess of Bute
2007   Peter K Timms CBE
2006   Matt Connell Honorary Vice President RSPBA
2005   Major General Graeme C M Lamb CMG DSO OBE
2004   John A Mackenzie President of Camanachd Association
2003   Jimmy Reid Journalist and Broadcaster
2002   Lennie C G Moffat Managing Director, TSC
2001   Sir Robert Smith Chairman and Chief Exec. of Morgan Grenfell Private Equity Ltd.
2000   Lt Commander Tim Forrester HMS Gannet                           
1999   Thomas Caldwell Deputy Director Scottish Police College
1998   Firemaster John Jameson QFSM; AIFireE; CIMgt  Chieftain - Scottish Pipe Band Championships
1998   Col. Tom Lamb OBE MA CSt FSA (Scot) DL
1997   Johnnie Beattie MBE, Scottish Actor and Comedian
1996   William Petrie OBE., JP., DL.,
1995   Col. Ken Shepherd Commandant, Princess Louise Scottish Hosp. Erskine
1994   Leslie Sharp QPM., LLB., FIMgt, Chief Constable Strathclyde Police
1993   Commodore John Trewby ADC  Royal Navy                             
1992   Tom B McMillan Honorary Secretary, Bute Highland Games
1991   Mrs Ray Michie MP Argyll & Bute
1990   Gerd Guisman, Burgermeister
1989   William Hunter JP Chairman of Argyll & Bute Council
1988   Commander W K Benbow Commander of HMS Rothesay
1987   Duke and Duchess of Rothesay – Prince and Princess of Wales
1986   Douglas Currie JP Chairman of Argyll & Bute Council
1985   Right Hon. Lord MacLean of Duart & Morvern Lord Lt. of Argyll & Bute
1984   Hon. John J J Mackay, JP MP for Argyll & Bute
1983   Sheriff J Irvine Smith
1982   Commodore G F Rallings
1981   Charles E O’Halloran JP, Chairman of Strathclyde Regional Council
1980   Frank Spiers, Chairman of Argyll & Bute Council
1979   John Corrie MP for Bute and North Ayrshire
1978   Lewis Laurie, St Catherine’s, Strachur
1977   James B Simpson Bute Estate Factor
1976   Donald McCallum Assist. Secretary BHG - Presented the Trophies
1975   E T F Spence Chairman of Argyll & Bute Council
1974   Sir Fitzroy McLean MP
1973   Provost Donald McPhail MM
1972   Lord David Crichton Stuart
1971   Gerald S Rehm Mayor Commissioner Florida, USA
1970   David Williamson Chief Constable of Renfrew & Bute Constabulary