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WORLD PIPE BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS GRADE 1 TICKETS SELL OUT IN RECORD TIME
Tickets for the elite competition at this year’s World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow have sold out in record time. With almost a month left until the huge event at Glasgow Green, all seats for the Grade 1 competition, which will feature the very best Pipe Bands in the world, have been sold. However, tickets for the rest of the competitions and events, including the chance to see the 2009 champions crowned, are still available.
This year, The Worlds, as they are affectionately known, will welcome more than 8,000 pipers and drummers from all round the globe. The World Pipe Band Championships which will be held on Glasgow Green on Saturday 15th August 2009, have been associated with the city for more than 60 years. Last year, the event drew around 45,000 fans to watch the competition with Simon Fraser University Pipe Band from Canada eventually being declared World Champions.
Piping Live! is also back for it’s 6th year for the week leading up to The World Pipe Band Championships. Piping Live! is a week-long festival packed with events taking place at venues across the city, as well as free concerts and displays in George Square daily – including a special Homecoming Scotland “Music of the Clans” presentation. Both events are also being supported by Homecoming Scotland 2009 as visitors from as far afield as Canada, Pakistan and New Zealand return to Scotland during this special year of celebration.
Ian Embelton, Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish Pipe Bands Association, said: “Every year tens of thousands of pipe band music fans flock to Glasgow Green to see the very best talent in the world fighting it out for the ultimate accolade. After last year’s hard fought battle for the world title, I am not surprised that the tickets for this year’s competition have gone in record time. What visitors to the championships see is the culmination of years of learning and months of hard work and long hours of practice which always makes “The World’s” a day to remember.”
Bailie Liz Cameron, chair of Culture and Sport Glasgow said: “The Worlds is always a great spectacle and is a hugely important date on our cultural calendar. Last year, the event was widely regarded as one of the best ever and seeing the Grade 1 tickets go so quickly demonstrates how much people are looking forward to seeing the very best pipers and drummers compete once again for the highest accolades.”
All press accreditation requests for the World Pipe Band Championships 2009 should be sent to Gordon.boag@csglasgow.org