A CEILIDH band from Inverclyde had a 'reely' good time on tour in Pakistan.

Reely Jiggered, featuring sisters Alison and Fiona McNeil and their cousin Scott McLean, spent a week visiting and performing in the cities of Lahore, Sialkot and the capital, Islamabad.

It was the second year in a row the band were invited to Pakistan by the British high commissioner, primarily to play at a fundraising Burns supper, which took place last Saturday.

For the encore last week, they were shown more of the country.

The band was invited to perform at schools, hand out Scottish Government-backed university scholarships for underprivileged girls, visited a factory that manufactures instruments including bagpipes, and were interviewed live on national TV.

Alison, who is from Gourock, said: "We're a female-led band so we used it as an opportunity to promote gender equality and women's rights.

"The fact we got to travel about a bit more was great and it was wonderful to see more of Pakistan because on the previous trip we did the Burns gig and flew back home again. "It was brilliant to meet more people, experience more of the culture, see some historical sites and see all the good work that's going on to improve education and meet the women who are pushing their careers forward.

"Everybody was really friendly."

It was a far cry from last year's trip to Islamabad, which featured a bomb alert during rehearsals and transportation in an armoured vehicle.

The band's visit helped enhance links between Scotland and Pakistan.

The trip featured visits to Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust Higher Secondary school in Lahore to showcase Celtic music to a room full of enthusiastic students, presented scholarship awards and were invited to play at the British Council Lahore Library where they performed tracks from their new album to the audience and live on TV.

In Sialkot, they went to Gray's of Cambridge cricket ball and hockey stick factory and met Scottish-supported apprentices before touring the Mid-East Instrument site where bagpipes, bodhrans and Celtic harps are made.

The tour culminated in a press conference in Islamabad where the band performed a fusion of folk-rock and a Pakistani song, which went down a storm.

At night, Reely Jiggered performed a show for the British high commissioner's annual Burns supper charity ball with proceeds going to a deaf school in Karachi. Alison said: "It was a bit exhausting at times but it was great."