Opened with Winnie Ewing’s famous words 'The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened'. Scotland’s first devolved parliament was opened in July 1999. Pete Irvine was Event Consultant for the Opening Event Programme and contracted directly by the then Scottish Executive. Unique devised and produced 24 hours of celebratory events attracting huge live audiences and wide international TV coverage. The main events were attended by HM The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and the First Minister and Unique coordinated all the activities, the casts of thousands, the various arenas and spectacularly and uniquely, a fly past of the Red Arrows and Concorde together. From a dinner for 600 hosted by the first First Minister the night before, to open-air opera and rock music concerts, big-scale international street theatre, the carefully choreographed parade of 1500 children from every constituency in Scotland (uniformed and bearing huge, colourful prayer flags), the object was to create a historic and memorable day. All commentators agreed that it was.