Updated: Strathclyde Police win European Championship

Greenock, Scotland – July 29, 2006 – Strathclyde Police won the 2006 European Pipe Band Championship through driving rain that started around 3 p.m. and spoiled the Grade 1 contest. The march-past/massed bands were cancelled, with only pipe-majors and leading-drummers on the field at the prize-giving.

It was the first major championship win for the Strahclyde Police under Pipe-Major Donald Mackay, who took over the band in October 2004 and the first for the band since winning the 2003 British Championship under Pipe-Major James Wark.

Grade 1 (MSR)
1st Strathclyde Police (Scotland)
2nd Field Marshal Montgomery (Northern Ireland)
3rd Robert Wiseman Dairies-Vale of Atholl (Scotland)
4th House of Edgar-Shotts & Dykehead (Scotland)
5th St. Laurence O’Toole (Republic of Ireland)
6th ScottishPower (Scotland)
Drumming: Shotts & Dykehead
Judges: Iain Wood, Winston Pollock (piping); Gordon Craig (drumming; Malcolm MacKenzie (ensemble)

Seven Towers won Grade 2, and perennial contenders Tayside Police were not in the prize list. The two piping judges in the grade often had wide separations in their rankings.

Grade 2 (medley)
1st Seven Towers (Northern Ireland)
2nd Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Scotland)
3rd Killeen (Northern Ireland)
4th Torphichen & Bathgate (Scotland)
5th Cullybackey (Northern Ireland)
6th 52nd Lowland Regiment (Scotland)
Drumming: Seven Towers
Judges: Denver Cardwell, Jennifer Hutcheon (piping); Jim Hutton (drumming); John Kennedy (ensemble)

Grade 3A (MSR)
1st Battlehill (Northern Ireland)
2nd Gaelic College (Canada)
3rd Denny & Dunipace (Scotland)
4th Linlithgow (Scotland)
5th Coalburn (Scotland)
6th City of Edinburgh (Scotland)
Drumming: Bo’ness (Scotland)

Grade 3B (MSR)
1st Williamwood (Scotland)
2nd Royal Burgh of Annan (Scotland)
3rd Gortaclare (Northern Ireland)
4th Rothesay (Scotland)
5th Ayr Society (Scotland)
6th Milngavie (Scotland)
Drumming: Gortaclare

Juvenile (medley)
1st Kintyre Schools
2nd George Watson’s
3rd Boghall & Bathgate
4th Inverclyde
5th Dunoon Grammar School
Drumming: George Watson’s

p|d

What do you think? We always want to hear from our readers, so please use our comment system to provide your thoughts!

Do you have competition results? Be sure to send them to pipes|drums. We can’t report what we don’t know about! Please remember to support the businesses that advertise and make the not-for-profit p|d possible.