Dollar Academy the toast of the school after 12th straight Championship success

With most schools it’s a championship sports team that students rally around and, while Dollar Academy also loves its athletics, it’s the championship pipe band that is every bit as beloved at the prestigious secondary school located near Stirling, Scotland.

After Dollar Academy captured the 2011 Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championship on June 18th at Fettes College in Edinburgh for the twelfth consecutive year, the band travelled back to school for a parade along Academy Place to be welcomed by fellow students, parents and supports.

And, if a parade weren’t enough, Dollar Academy Rector D.J. Knapman toasted the band at a champagne reception in the library of the almost 200-year-old school.

“The pipe band at Dollar Academy is a much cherished and long-established integral part of daily life here, particularly in the summer term,” Knapman commented to pipes|drums.  “There can be nothing more uplifting, for staff or pupils, than arriving at school each morning to the sound of the pipes and drums in various locations around the campus.  The whole community is very proud of the band’s achievements.”

The piping and d rumming program at Dollar Academy is so substantial that the school supports three separate bands. It was the “A” band that finished first in the compettion, with the “B” band taking third, behind Edinburgh’s George Heriot’s School. The Dollar Academy B finished ahead of several schools’ top-level bands.

“Our A band, naturally enough, takes pride of place, but piping and drumming are sufficiently popular at Dollar that we are able to run B and C bands as well,” Knapman continued. “All of this is voluntary, but the pupils seem to really enjoy both practice and competition.”

Bill McCall, a parent of a 10-year-old drummer with the Dollar Academy B band, said, ” ‘Humble in victory and gracious in defeat’ is instilled in the youngsters. The esprit d’corps of a band is quite special as hundreds of combined hours of practice build bonds.”

Dollar Academy won four out of the five RSPBA major championships in the Juvenile grade in 2010, with a second at Cowal.