The 15 Grade 1 bands that entered this year’s World Pipe Band Championships kicked off their first day of competition in dreich, damp weather conditions. The bands had an MSR to play in the morning their own choice. They also chose which Medleys they would play for the afternoon.
Despite the squalls and flurries in the morning, some bands handled the conditions better than others and put in decent MSR performances. There were better performances in the Medleys heard in the afternoon simply because of the markedly improved weather conditions.
Today’s judges were:
Medley: Alvis Kerr and Jim Wark (piping), Brian Martin (drumming) and John Moles (ensemble).
MSR: Barry Donaldson and Ronnie McShannon (piping), Gordon Craig (drumming) and Jim Campbell (ensemble).
Tomorrow’s judges are:
Medley: Colin Moffett and Peter Snaddon (piping), William Black (drumming) and Paul Turner (ensemble).
MSR: William Garrett and Gordon Lawrie (piping), Mark Wilson (drumming) and David Brown (ensemble).
The results from today will not be known until tomorrow and the four combined performances will count towards the final result tomorrow evening.
Perhaps understandably, there wasn’t much of a crowd taking in today’s competitions. The weather forecast indicates much better conditions.
The first bands on tomorrow will march into their respective circles at 09:00: West Lothian Schools in the Novice Juvenile A grade, City of St. Andrews in the Grade 4B (Qualifier 1), William Kerr Memorial in Grade 4B (Qualifier 2), Clontibret in Grade 4A (Qualifier 1), Kirkcudbright and District in Grade 4A (Qualifier 2).
• bagpipe.news will bring you the results as soon as they’re announced tomorrow night.
