Quality Performances at World Championships by Tweedvale Pipe Band!

Tweedvale Pipe Band travelled to Glasgow on Saturday 13 August to participate in the largest pipe band contest on the planet, the World Pipe Band Championships. Held on Glasgow Green, the World’s attracted 230 bands from all across the globe to compete for the coveted title of World Champions in front of 35,000 spectators from all around the world. Tweedvale Pipe Band arrived in Glasgow just after 6.55am in order to prepare for their performance and found Glasgow pleasantly dry- the rain that had been affecting Glasgow on the Friday had passed leaving sunny and breezy conditions, though underfoot conditions were definitely soggy.

Playing first out of fourteen entered bands in the Grade 4A qualifying heat 1 contest, the band put in a confident and controlled performance of their March, Strathspey and Reel set. When the results of the qualifying heats were announced at 2.00pm, Tweedvale were delighted to find that they had qualified for the 12 band final. This meant a second performance of their March Strathspey and Reel set, the band again playing first out of the twelve qualified bands at 4.15pm. If anything the second performance was even better than the first and the band came off the contest field feeling that they had put in their best performance of the year so far.

Another 2 hours were to pass before the march past and prize giving ceremonies commenced and it was well after 7.00pm before the results were announced. When the results were finally announced the band found that they had unfortunately not made the price list. The band came 12^th in the final, with the judges placing them 11^th and 12^th for piping, 8^th for drumming and 9^th for ensemble. This was still a satisfying result given how unexpected qualification for the final had been. It was a relatively happy, though tired, band that departed Glasgow at close to 9.00pm after a seriously long days’ piping and drumming.

Speaking about the World Championships result, Tweedvale Pipe Major Bruce Gillie said “I’m pleased about the performances in the World Championships – both performances were very impressive and are close to what the band should be achieving week in and week out. Qualifying for the final was an unexpected bonus and a good boost for the band. Hopefully we can continue the good work into the final two competitions of the year, both on home ground at Peebles and Innerleithen”

Tweedvale’s competition season now has a two week break. Following on from this in early September are two local pipe band contests at Peebles and Innerleithen which will round out Tweedvale Pipe Band’s competition season.

Contest venue – Glasgow Green, Glasgow.

Tunes played:
Grade 4A MSR – P/M Donald McLean’s Farewell to Oban, Men of Argyll, Molly Connell, The Keel Row, Lexy McAskill and Flora, Mrs MacLeod of MacLeod.

Number of Pipers – 11.

Number of Side Drummers – 5.

Number of Bass Drummers – 1.

Number of Tenor Drummers – 3.

The full results of the World Pipe band Championship Grade 4A Qualifying heat 1 can be found here.

The full results of the World Pipe band Championship Grade 4A Final can be found here.