Inverness can boast of many great things: Culloden, Nessie, Fort George to name but a few. Good weather for the pipe bands however, is simply not one of them !
The 2007 European championships took place on Saturday 28th July and played host to around 126 pipe bands (according to Mr. George Purves - a ‘high heid yin’ from the RSPBA). A cloudy and cold morning was meant to be followed by a brighter and maybe just sunny, afternoon. The magic time everyone kept on quoting was two o’clock. ‘Aye, the sun’ll be oot by twa son’ was heard many time. In reality, the sun never appeared at all, the rain fell constantly (and heavily at time) from about 11am onwards and the field had a certain ‘Glastonbury’ look about it. Buses got stuck in the mud….and that was coming into the competition at lunch time - goodness knows how many got stuck on the way out!
Attending the major championships with a stall is usually quite rewarding and also enjoyable. Not this time around. Coupled with the bad weather, the organisers had (in their wisdom) decided to set out the field so that the beer tent was a good few hundred yards slosh through the mud. The traders area was behind a wire fence - resulting in another lenghty slosh through the mud and all in all, it was a pretty miserable affair.
That aside, the standard of piping and drumming that the bands can still produce on days like this is nothing short of incredible. Some cynics might say that the bands should be used to it by now - after all Dumbarton (the previous championship) wasn’t much better and most of the smaller competitions this year have been pretty poor weather wise, however, I think the bands have just progressed to a standard that come rain, hail or shine, the overall quality of their performances still comes through.
Grade One saw Field Marshall Montg0mery triumph yet again and I think they will take some beating at the Worlds this year. Maybe Simon Fraser University from Canada’s West Coast could give them a run for their money, or perhaps some of the better Scottish bands such as Shotts, Strathclyde Police, Scottish Power or Boghall could step it up and keep the title on home soil. For a full list of results, follow this link to the RSPBA’s results page.
The next Major is the World Pipe band Championships - to be held on Glasgow Green on Saturday 11th August - it will be a fantastic day out for pipe band enthusiasts the world over…..just make sure to bring your umbrella!
Neil Manderson
