First Contest of the Year for Tweedvale Pipe Band!

For the first time in many years Saturday 24 March saw Tweedvale Pipe Band take part in an early season indoor contest. The Band travelled to Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway to take part in the RSPBA Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway  Branch Indoor Contest which was held in Sanquhar Academy. Tweedvale Pipe Band  was drawn to play fourth in the Grade 4A MSR event out of five entered bands, though in the event only four bands played. The Grade 4A MSR event was won by Irvine and District PB.

In addition to the band performance, two soloists from the band took part in the solo events. Logan Thorburn played in the chanter event in his first ever contest. Arran Cameron played in the under 14 March event and took 2nd place.

Speaking about the outcome of the Sanquhar contest, Tweedvale Pipe Major Bruce Gillie said “I’m happy with the performance at today’s contest. The point of the exercise was to find out where the band stood in terms of the performance of our new MSR set. I’m happy to report that we’re on the right track. A prize would have been nice but the main thing to take from today was a good band performance. We got that – we know what works and what needs work.”

The Band’s performance was captured for posterity on video, and posted to YouTube – see and hear for yourself how the Band got on. Many thanks to Eric Traynor for capturing the performance:

Tweedvale’s contest season will resume in early may when the Band will compete at the traditional outdoor season opener at Dunbar. A full programme of competitions interspersed with street parades and other engagements will follow on throughout the summer.

Details of the Day

Contest venue – Sanquhar Academy, Sanquhar.

Tunes played:
Grade 4A MSR – Walter Douglas MBE, Archie Duncan, Colonel MacLeod.

Number of Pipers – 8.

Number of Side Drummers – 4.

Number of Bass Drummers – 1.

Number of Tenor Drummers – 2.

The full results of the RSPBA ADG Branch Sanquhar Indoor Pipe Band Contest Grade 4A MSR contest can be found here.