BEAR Scotland celebrated the Forth Road Bridge’s 60th anniversary on Wednesday 4 September with two bagpipers serenading the famous bridge from the top of its 156-metre main tower.
Sixty years to the day since Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the bridge in front of massed pipes and drums, ‘Scotland the Brave’ once again rang out across the Forth as bridge workers celebrated one of Scotland’s greatest engineering achievements.
The pipers Martin Lennie, 48, and James Petrie, 41, both work for Transport Scotland’s bridge operating company BEAR Scotland.
Incident Liaison Officer Martin Lennie has lived in Queensferry all his life and worked at the Forth Road Bridge since 1999, initially as a toll collector and then in the bridge control room.
Martin said: “I grew up within sight of the Forth Road Bridge and have worked here more than half my life. It’s been brilliant to combine this with my other great passion – playing the pipes.
“I was part of Queensferry & District Pipe Band as a schoolboy when we played at the bridge’s 25th anniversary celebrations in 1989, so it’s been quite emotional celebrating the 60th anniversary in this way 35 years later.
“I’ve no fear climbing the bridge, but I do still get nervous playing in front of an audience!”
Network Bridges Manager James Petrie has worked for BEAR Scotland since 2021.
James said: “The chance to pipe from the top of the Forth Road Bridge has been a great honour and privilege for me as an engineer.
“I worked on the bridge earlier in my career during replacement of the approach viaduct bearings and I’m now responsible for over 800 smaller structures in the rest of the South East network.
“Hopefully people enjoy the footage and it shows how proud BEAR Scotland is to be entrusted with maintaining this famous bridge.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
