Gareth Mitchelson Championships are held at the Cowal Gathering in Dunoon on the last Saturday in August each year. Whilst still at school Mitchelson was a member of the world-renowned British Caledonian Airways pipes and dance corps, performing at Scottish events all over the world. In 1985 Gareth and Deryck Mitchelson commissioned new work and music for inclusion in Glasgow's Mayfest dance festival and formalised this with the formation of the CelticSpirit Dance Company as a limited liability company. Other notable performances have included participation in many folk festivals and fiddlers' rallys, in the Capitol Theatre and His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen,
Cowal subsequent invasion by Norsemen, the Hebridean islands of Dal Riata became the Kingdom of the Isles, which following Norwegian unification became part of Norway, as "Suðreyjar" (historically anglicised as "Sodor"). The remaining parts of Dal Riata attracted the name "Argyle" (later "Argyll"), in reference to their ethnicity. In an unclear manner, the kingdom of Alba was founded elsewhere by groups originating from Argyll, and expanded to include Argyll itself. However, an 11th-century Norse military campaign led to the formal transfer of Lorn, Islay, Kintyre, Knapdale, Bute, and Arran, to "Suðreyjar". This left Alba with no part of Argyll except Cowal,