Bands set for first major championship of UK season
The 2010 Scottish Pipe Band Championships at Dumbarton, Scotland, will once again kick off the major events of the UK pipe band season, with more than 130 bands entered to compete across all grades at the competition on Saturday, May 22nd.
The Grade 1 contest will see 14 bands participate. Several smaller competitions have already taken place in the UK, but high anticipation always precedes the first major championship.
Among the more pressing questions will be the progress of several bands new to the grade or under new leadership, with Inveraray & District, the Lothian & Borders Police and Torphichen & Bathgate each featuring a new dimension to the premier division of pipe band competition.
Also closely watched will be the debut of the Strathclyde Police, after the band’s near-collapse in the fall of 2009. It will be the first event of the year of the legendary band, which suffered significant losses after the sponsorship plug was reportedly almost pulled on the group.
Weather for Dumbarton on Saturday is forecasted to be mainly sunny with a high of 22 º.
Stay tuned to pipes|drums for Grade 1 and Grade 2 results as they are announced from the field.
Keep your fingers crossed for the College of Piping Pipe Band” :-). My wife is joining them :-)”
It’s invariably risky when making comment that is based on You Tube footage etc, but I’d really like to know what Scottish Power got wrong (I thought they were out on their own – sound and playing quality)….and, more to the point, what some bands allegedly did better than they…? An odd result, in my humble opinion.