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Merpeople, Monty Python and Nessie’s sister: Meet Belladrum’s fancy dress competition winners

The "Belladusa"s also took part in the competition. Picture by Jason Hedges.
The "Belladusa"s also took part in the competition. Picture by Jason Hedges.

If there’s one place you can expect to see mermaids, Greek gods and Captain Jack Sparrow in a tent, it’s Belladrum.

The tension in the tent built as the festival’s annual fancy dress competiton got under way, with the 2022 theme of myths and legends at its core.

With free tickets for next year up for grabs there was a lot on the line, and you could tell in the detail and extravagance of the costumes on show.

Among the nearly 40 people who took part were eight-month-old Amber, dressed as a baby dragon, and Martin from Kilmarnock, dressed Nessie’s sister Bella in an inflatable dinosaur suit.

They were all ultimately beaten to the prizes however by seven-year-old Charlie Macleod, who won the individual competition as King Triton and the Monty Python Knights of the Round Table who took home the best group title.

Feeling ‘good’

Charlie wowed the crowd with his Kind Triton fancy dress, complete with full beard, plastic abs and shell encrusted Crocs.

When asked by the judge how he felt about winning, he answered a very humble “good”.

Charlie Macleod as King Triton. Picture by Jason Hedges.

Mum Barbra Macleod said the family have been to the festival a few times before and that she was as surprised as her son by the win.

“I did put in a lot of effort, but I didn’t expect him to win because other people did too,” she said.

She said her inspiration for the costume was Charlie’s love of mermaids and that it was the perfect match for this year’s theme.

Ebay chainmail

A group of seven friends from the west coast made up the Monty Python Knights of the Round Table; Robert Dunn, Justine Dunn, Hollie Taylor, Dulgal Macintyre, Craig Sutherland, Richard Livett and Laura McConnachie.

The group’s fancy dress was complete with coconuts to mimic the sound of galloping horses and a portable speaker playing the Monty Python theme song on a loop.

Mrs Dunn is a seamstress who took charge of making the costumes, putting in many hours and ordering a fair amount of chainmail material from Ebay.

Monty Python Knights of the Round Table. Picture by Jason Hedges.

“It was all a bit of fun and we’ve enjoyed making people smile at Belladrum as we’ve been going around,” she said.

The group are Belladrum loyals, having been “loads” of times. Mrs Dunn said: “It’s a really good social event, the music is always good, the atmosphere is always good, it’s a no brainer.”

Her husband added: “We had no expectation of winning anything, we just thought it would be fun to go around the site with our coconuts.”

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