Hundreds of people gathered to celebrate Buckie Thistle's Highland League win in style at the spectacular Marquee in the Park event, held last Saturday.

A crowd of over 400 supporters, players and club officials turned out to enjoy the packed programme of events hosted in the magnificent marquee at Victoria Park.

An impressive champagne fountain was on display and visitors were given a champagne reception on arrival.  A delicious three-course meal was served by the Mansfield Hotel, Elgin, and it was enjoyed before the various events and entertainments, compared by Dave Edwards, kicked off.

Players, coaches and the management team were introduced individually and each received a rapturous applause.

An auction caused great excitement as supporters were given the chance to grab a piece of Jags' history.  Great sums of money were being offered for a framed strip which had been used during the title-winning season.

Captain Kevin Small's top took £1,000 which the club has generously decided to donate to kidney dialysis as Kevin is currently awaiting a kidney transplant.

Jags president Mark Duncan said: "We really did celebrate Buckie Thistle's historic title win in a way that will never be forgotten.  Everyone has a fantastic time and it will be a celebration to look back on for years to come.

"It was a fantastic day from start to finish.  It was a great occasion and everyone was in high spirits.  Several people have said that it was the best day of their lives and that they had never seen a day like it before in Buckie.

"It had been 52 years since Buckie Thistle last won the Highland League championship and we decided to celebrate in style and really push the boat out.  We splashed out on celebrating the event but unlike our annual Sportsmen's Dinner, we were not really concerned about making money as we just wanted to celebrate in style and mark the occasion properly but we will cover the costs at the end of the day.

"The marquee was very impressive and it had been beautifully decorated.  Everyone turned our in formal dress and there were plenty of kilts and lovely dresses on show.

The meal was delicious and everything seemed to go to plan without any problems."

The Highland League Championship trophy was on display throughout the evening and hundreds of people took the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the cup.

The greatly anticipated Player of the Year awards were presented on the night.

The Banffshire Advertiser Player of the Year award was presented to David MacRae and Graeme Stewart made it a double by taking both the Players' Player of the Year award and the Thistle Review.  The Buchie Thistle Supporters' Club award, voted for by the fans, went to Zander Sutherland and the Tenerife Loyal award went to Chris Angus.

The website buckiethistle.com award was presented to Stephen Bruce who, it was announced at the weekend, is to celebrate his testimonial season later this year.  Plans have already begun for the event with Murray Thain looking to set up a seperate committee to arrange the event with him as Chair.

The Victoria Park Function Hall award was presented to Kevin Small.

The Alex Sutherland Special award, presented to the person with the biggest contribution to the club this year, went to manager Gregg Carrol.

The Special Lifetime award was presented to Annie Jappy, who has been involved with the club for nearly 40 years and still continues to serve up the teas in the boardroom.

A number of special awards were presented.  Club Treasurer Paul Munch was recognised for his committment to the club as he retires this year after 30 years with the Jags.

David Smith, who regularly videos the matches and posts them on the internet for viewers to catch up on the match highlights, was recognised with a special award and so was 13-year-old Benjamin Palmer, who sells match programmes and helps out around the club.

The celebrations continued into the evening with dancing to Cachd-ach-Cruaidh, which featured local musicians Charlie Glass from Fochabers, and Robbie Munro, father of Jags' players Donnie and Hamish Munro.

Mark Duncan said "Something like this usually takes months to arrange but we only had three weeks to arrange this event.

"It took a massive effort from everyone involved.  Special thanks goes to Anne McKay of planwell, Murray Duncan, Club Secretary Albert Phimister and Ross Murray of the Mansfield Hotel.

"It was a lot of work but it was certainly worth it."

The event wrapped up the Jags most successful league season for over half a century, with May 12 seeing the much awaited trophy handed to the Buckie Thistle team.

Report from Banffshire Advertiser (Tuesday May 25 2010)