Piper plays on the beach to keep the peace

A Scottish engineer who lives in Norfolk says he's taken to playing his bagpipes on the beach to keep peace with his neighbours.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, 28, from Great Yarmouth, learned to play the pipes when he was in the Boys' Brigade in Troon, Ayrshire.

Many people have come to enjoy the tuneful drones including Flower of Scotland, carried on the wind for up to a mile.

"I don't want to get chucked out of the house; I think the neighbours would be up in arms," he said.

Ryan Fitzpatrick took up bagpipes again after moving to Great Yarmouth in 2024

Mr Fitzpatrick, who moved to Norfolk in 2021, decided to renew his love of playing the pipes when he moved to Great Yarmouth last year to take up a job as a manufacturing engineer.

"Playing on the beach, most of the time [the reaction] it's very positive," he said.

"People are surprised for the most part. I've had people from miles up the beach hear me and have no idea what's going on until they go over a sand dune.

"But I've not had a bad word so far, so I'll take that as a compliment."

He admitted many people had a love-hate relationship with the sounds of the bagpipes.

"You can tell by the faces of some people," he said.

"One of my neighbours knows I play; he's an ex-military man so he's quite happy with it, but the other neighbour doesn't know yet and might not ever find out.

"[On the beach] I'm out of the way of most people... People sit on the benches, and I can only really tell they're listening to me when I stop and they leave.

"I do quite like the sand dunes out here because it reminds me of my hometown and where I first learned the pipes with the 1st Troon Boys' Brigade, where it's rainy, windy and lovely all at the same time."

Pat and David Angel stopped to take pictures of the piper playing on the beach

Pat Angel, 76, and her husband David, 79, stopped during their walk to take pictures and a video.

"He's really good. It's lovely to see. It's something different," she said.

Cindy Gough, who was with her daughter and grandson, said bagpipes on the beach was "what it is to be British"

Cindy Gough, 57, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, was enjoying drinks at Munchies Café on the promenade when the Mr Fitzpatrick was playing.

"I turned up and thought it was brilliant," she said.

"It's really nice to hear it but this is what it is to be British, isn't it? It's really lovely [and] beautiful to listen to."

Her daughter Emily and grandson Anakin also enjoyed the performance.

Emily said: "I think it's lovely... really relaxing to sit here and have a cup of tea and listen to the bagpipes."

Ellen Bygrave enjoyed hearing the bagpipes while she was walking with her grandchildren

Ellen Bygrave, 57, from Stokesby, near Great Yarmouth was out walking on the promenade with her grandchildren.

"Absolutely lovely to hear. The sound's wonderful," she said.