A PROUD Kelty trumpeter opened the St Giles service for Her Majesty the Queen this week.

Stewart Malcolm, of Keltyhill Road, was named senior trumpeter of His Majesty’s State Trumpeters of Scotland after the death of Queen Elizabeth II and has since played at the Edinburgh ceremony on Monday.

While he was honoured to have played at such a historic event, he remains most proud of his hometown roots.

He told the Times: “I’m a Kelty boy and I will always be a Kelty boy.

“I’m proud to be a trumpeter for His Majesty the King but I’m prouder to be a Kelty boy.”

He continued: “I’ve got three daughters and six beautiful grandkids who were all flabbergasted to see me on the telly!

“I was the one that started the announcements, the parades and it was actually me that started the service in St Giles.

"It starts with a fanfare and rather than somebody telling me when to start, they said, ‘Well at 11.59 and 15 seconds, start playing the first fanfare.’

“Considering you have the fanfare to play and the rest of your team to manage, it’s a wee bit more responsibility. It was quite stressful but thinking back on it, it has been such an honour to do the job. “

Playing in a brass band has been a massive part of Stewart’s life, a rite of passage in his family, he has been playing since he was a young boy.

He added: “It’s a family tradition to play in the local brass band and my father was actually known as Mr Kelty Band so it just became known that me and my sister would have to join. We did and I continued it on through my military career.

"That’s how I met my beautiful wife, at a brass band contest.”

Stewart is the former Band Sergeant Major of the Bands of the Black Watch, the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the 51 Highland Brigade.

He was asked to restart the brass band in Kelty once again by the community council. He wasted no time rallying support and became the bandmaster for the Kelty and Blairadam Concert Band.

He has a lot of experience in brass bands but his recent role in the King’s Proclamation in Edinburgh and the St Giles service has prompted messages from people worldwide.

“I’ve had something like 300 posts on pages like ‘Who’s from Kelty’ and other relevant Facebook chats and I’ve been spending the past two days trying to reply to as much of them as I can,” he said.

“I’ve had messages from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, America.

"It’s been fantastic.”