news
28th July 2009 – Practice Picks Up
Well, with less than three weeks to go until the 2009 World Pipe Band Championships, preparations are going fairly well. After a two-week break we’ve resumed practices in mid-July, and as well as working on our competition Sets. We are also now working on new material for our trip to the Interceltique Festival in Lorient at the beginning of August.
On the 18th July we travelled west to Balloch for the Loch Lomond Highland Games where we placed 1st in Grade 4, albeit in a relatively small competition. We also ‘played up’ to Grade 3, which gave us a chance to play our Medley; our drummers won 1st place and we placed 4th as a band out of nine bands. We’d chosen to do this competition to get us back in shape after our break and to help prepare us for the European Championships, this being the next Major competition before the Worlds.
The Europeans were held on 25th July at Battery Park, Inverclyde. With glorious sunshine for most of the day and exceptional views up to Loch Lomond, we all enjoyed a good day out. It was a long day though (we left Edinburgh at 7:00am and got back at 10:00pm) but our hard work over to last few weeks paid off and we qualified second in our heat and played well to win 3rd place in the Final.
Now, we’ve one practice left before we leave for Brittany on Thursday. During our time in Lorient, as well as enjoying and absorbing the music, sights and sounds of the Festival, and doing our bit through various performances, parades and shows, we will be using the 10 days playing together to work on our competition sets and overall band sound in preparation for the Worlds which takes place five days after we return.