World’s 2018 Grade 1 Final settled

Glasgow – August 17, 2018 – The 12 bands that have qualified for the Grade 1 Final of the World Pipe Band Championships were determined today at Glasgow Green in mostly overcast, occasionally rainy weather.

In alphabetical order, they are:

• 78th Fraser Highlanders
• Dowco Triumph Street
• Field Marshal Montgomery
• Inveraray & District
• Johnstone
• Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia
• Police Scotland Fife
• ScottishPower
• Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia
• Simon Fraser University
• St. Laurence O’Toole
• Vale of Atholl

The RSPBA conducted spot checks of band rosters to ensure that all players were registered as per the rules. Dowco Triumph Street was stopped after the band performed its medley to check playing members against its submitted roster of members.

Johnstone made it to the final for the first time since the band has been in Grade 1. Bands accustomed to making the final, like the Glasgow Police and the New Zealand Police, might have been particularly disappointed.

None of the three bands travelling all the way from New Zealand made it through.

The finalists were from a total of 22 bands that competed in two groups, each playing a Medley and March, Strathspey & Reel of their own choosing in two separate events. The 12 finalists are required to compete with a different Medley and MSR on Saturday, August 18, again at Glasgow Green.

The order of play for each group was:

Group 1

1. Johnstone
2. St. Laurence O’Toole
3. Simon Fraser University
4. Manawatu Scottish
5. New Zealand Police
6. Canterbury Caledonian
7. Police Scotland Fife
8. Police Service of Northern Ireland
9. Inveraray & District
10. Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia
11. Bagad Cap Caval

Group 2

1. Glasgow Police
2. 78th Fraser Highlanders
3. Lomond & Clyde
4. Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia
5. Glasgow Skye Association
6. Vale of Atholl
7. Field Marshal Montgomery
8. ScottishPower
9. Denny & Dunipace Gleneagles
10. Buchan Peterson
11. Dowco Triumph Street

There were two sets of judges, each panel assessing each group of bands once in a different event.

Group 1 MSR Group 2 Medley: Ross Walker, Scotland, and Harry Stevenson, Northern Ireland (piping); Stuart Coils, Scotland (drumming); Jim Baxter, Scotland (ensemble).

Group 1 Medley and Group 2 MSR: Mark Faloon, Northern Ireland, and Ken Eller, Canada (piping); Bill Black, Scotland (drumming); Gordon Lawrie, Scotland (ensemble).