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CHAIRMAN KEVIN REILLY
1st September 2010
Kevin Reilly, Chairman of The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, has decided for personal reasons to retire with effect from 1st September 2010.
Kevin has been a loyal servant of the Association as a member of the National Council for some 30 years and Chairman since 2003.
I would place on record the gratitude of the Association for his substantial contribution over the years and, on behalf of the Association, wish him and his wife Jen all the very best for the future.
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
2010 WORLD SOLO DRUMMING ENTRY FORMS NOW AVAILABLE
20th August 2010
The World Solo Drumming will once again be held in Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow. The date for the 2010 event is Saturday 23rd October.
Entries and Rules are now available via the Calendar or using the links below:
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
2010 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ST. LAURENCE O’TOOLE TAKE CROWN
14th August 2010
The World Pipe Band Championships 2010 were once again held on Glasgow Green. The largest ever entry with over 8,000 pipers, drummers and drum majors putting in over 300 performances between them on the day all looking to be crowned World Champions in their respective grades.
It was all systems go from early morning with qualification heats in many grades including almost 100 bands entered in across Grade 4A and 4B.
The Grade 1 qualifier started at 9am with the audience in the park once again joined by thousands around the World watching the live web stream supplied by the BBC as 6 of the 18 bands battled for a place in the final. The bands that made it through were:
Fife Constabulary - Scotland
Auckland and District - New Zealand
The 78th Fraser Highlanders - Canada
Cullybackey - Northern Ireland
Robert Wiseman Dairies Vale of Atholl - Scotland
Dowco Triumph Street - Canada
These 6 bands joined the 8 pre qualified bands for the 14 band final comprising of MSR and Medley events.
After 28 performances St. Laurence O’Toole from Dublin took their first Worlds victory in the premier grade. After winning the European title in July they followed up with a winning performance in the MSR and Medley events being placed 1st by 6 of the 8 judges. A delighted Pipe Major Terry Tully is pictured below:
And below Pipe Major Terry Tully leads SLOT from the field - World Champions 2010.
It was even more celebration for St. Laurence as Leading Drummer Stephen Creighton and his corps also took victory in both MSR and Medley events. Stpehen is pictures below leading his delighted winning corps from the field.
Field Marshal Montgomery from Northern Ireland took second spot overall with the 2008 and 2009 winners Simon Fraser University from Canada taking 3rd spot on an Ensemble Preference from 4th placed Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia. Unfortuately this was announced the wrong way around and we apologise to both bands for this error.
In the Drum Majors event Jason Paquio from Simon Fraser University was crowned Adult Champion (pictured below) with Samantha Gordon (Geoghegan Memorial) and Elizabeth Barr (Ravara) winning the Juvenile and Junior titles respectively.
Other World Champions crowned on the day were:
Grade 2 Band - Ravara Grade 2 Drum Corps - Bagad Brieg
Grade 3A Band - St. Finbarrs Grade 3A Drum Corps - St. Finbarrs
Grade 3B Band - Geoghan Memorial Grade 3B Drum Corps - Badenoch and Strathspey
Grade Juvenile Band - Dollar Academy Grade Juvenile Drum Corps - Boghall and Bathgate
Grade 4A Band - Gransha Grade 4A Drum Corps - Gransha
Grade 4B Band - Upper Crossgare Grade 4B Drum Corps - Upper Crossgare
Grade Novice Band - Oban High School Grade Novice Drum Corps - George Watsons College
Full summaries of the event can be found here and it’s onto Cowal in two weeks for the final championship of the 2010 season and the crowning of the Surpeme Champions.
All pictured are supplied by DE Photo.
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
SHOW ME THE WAY TO RSPBAY
13th August 2010
It’s been discussed and debated for quite some time and now it’s finally here, the RSPBA official online merchandise store has arrived!
Over the coming weeks the existing shop will give way to the new and updated, fully functional on-line store
People interested in Piping and Drumming, can view and purchase a wide range of items from our official collections, which, incidentally, will grow over the coming days, weeks and months to include:
An RSPBA range of approved products, No1 & No2 Pipe Band Kits, Clothing, Music, Books, Pewterware, Glassware, Golf, Jewellery, Gifts, Chairman’s Choice (a range of Limited Edition products, that we hope will become collector’s items), and for the 1st time,
The RSPBA 2011 Calendar.
The new web store will be advertised at the World Pipe Band Championships on Glasgow Green, where we have our own RSPBAY store, showcasing an initial range of high quality, very well designed products.
When you're visiting the new store remember to register for new products, special offers and alerts about a forthcoming Chairman’s choice.
The payment process we prefer is the RBS WorldPay system which is reputed to be one of the most secure transactional systems of the web.
And finally, we’re new, the store is new, therefore, please give us your product suggestions for future inclusion within the store. If we use your idea, we’ll immediately dispatch an RSPBAY Goodie bag; now let’s get the creative ideas flowing.
Why wait! Here’s the way to RSPBAY:- Visit our store now
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
WORLDS CD’s and DVD’s PRE ORDER NOW AVAILABLE
3rd August 2010
Once again KRL will be releasing 3 CD’s and 2 DVD’s of the World Pipe Band Championships.
All 5 products are now available to pre order via our online store. All prices have been held as previous years.
As a special offer we are offering a special discount of 10% for anyone buying all 5 products, and these special discounts can be found on your online shopping pages:
As in previous years this is the option of pre ordering your items. The RSPBA receive the first batches of product available from KRL ensuring that our customers are amongst the first to receive their CD’s and DVD’s.
Please note that we must inform you that KRL have informed us that this year all items in the range will be in order of play.
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
GRADE 1 WORLD DRAW EUROPEANS CONFIRMS WORLDS
23rd July 2010
The European Championships confirms Grade 1 Worlds Qualifiers:
09:00 Cullybackey - N Ireland 09:09 The Pipeband Club - Australia 09:18 Alberta Caledonia - Canada 09:27 Canterbury Caledonia Society - New Zealand 09:36 Tayside Police 09:45 Torphichen and Bathgate 09:54 Lothian and Borders Police 10:03 Oran Mor - USA 10:12 Fife Constabulary 10:21 Dowco Triumph Street - Canada 10:30 Bagad Cap Caval - France 10:39 Peel Regional Police - Canada 10.48 Ballycoan - N Ireland 10:57 Robert Wiseman Dairies Vale of Athol 11:06 City of Washington - USA 11:15 Auckland and District - New Zealand 11:24 The 78th Fraser Highlanders - Canada 11:33 LA Scots - USA
The bands who are already pre qualified for the final are:
Inveraray and District SFU FMM Scottish Power Strathclyde Police St Laurence O’Toole HOE Shotts Boghall and Bathgate
The final will run in order of band draw already posted.
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
BREAKING NEWS ......... THE WORLDS BBC SCOTLAND GOES GLOBAL AGAIN
23rd July 2010
Live streaming of the World Pipe Band Championships from BBC Scotland will be available across the world for the second year running.
Scottish ex-patriates, piping enthusiasts in countries where there is a strong interest in traditional music such as the United States, Canada and Australia, and newcomers to the music, enjoyed all the excitement of the event's Grade One arena last summer, during the Year of Homecoming.
Following the success of last year’s web offering, BBC Scotland, which has been host broadcaster of the event since 2006, will again provide live streamed coverage from the Grade One Arena at the event on Saturday, 14 August.
The championships will attract 8,000 pipers and drummers from 16 countries and a crowd of 40,000 is expected to see them compete for the honours at Glasgow Green.
This year's programme on BBC One Scotland which will transmit on the weekend following the event will be presented by Jackie Bird with commentary from respected piper Bob Worrall who has also been an adjudicator at 'The Worlds'.
BBC Scotland's live web coverage can be accessed on bbc.co.uk/worlds which will also host video clips on demand, available worldwide, after the event.
The on-demand service will feature excerpts of performance from all the bands vying for the medals in the Grade One competition.
Eileen Herlihy, Head of Entertainment and Events, BBC Scotland, said: “Our coverage of the event went global for the first time during a special year for Scottish culture and heritage, the Year of Homecoming.
“The feedback we have had from audiences who enjoyed our online offering has been terrific and we are delighted that we are again enhancing our coverage with live web streaming for viewers in and beyond the UK.”
Ian Embelton, Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, organisers of the championships, said: “There was such a great response to the live streaming from all around the world last year and we are delighted it's available again this year. It's a boost for traditional music, allowing a worldwide audience to watch the drama unfold on Glasgow Green."
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOL CANCELLATION ANNOUNCEMENT
2nd July 2010
It is with regret that due to insufficient numbers we have to announce the cancellation of the planned 2010 Summer School.
A series of workshops will be going ahead in Northern Ireland on August 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. For further information please contact info@rspbani.org
Ian Embelton Chief Executive Officer
WORLD PIPE BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS SOCIAL NETWORKING EXPANDS
18th May 2010
Following on from the immediate success of the Worlds Facebook group with almost 3000 members within weeks, the Worlds social networking online tools have now also expanded to include both Twitter and YouTube.
Click the Twitter, Facebook or YouTube links above to join in.
Ian Embelton RSPBA Chief Executive
WORLD PIPE BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS DEVELOPMENT GROUP SURVEY UNDERWAY
5th May 2010
The Development of the World Pipe Band Championships
Almost 200 people from all over the World, representing pipers, drummers, officials, parents and interested pipe band followers have received their electronic Survey for the development of the World Pipe Band Championships.
The survey remains open until Friday 21st May although over 90% of all people have responded already.
If you had registered and have not received your invitation in the first instance please check your Spam folder and look for an email from survey@rspba.org
It was also noted during the sending of the survey there were 6 email failures so if you cannot find your survey then please email survey@rspba.org with your name and then your email address can be checked against the one registered and you will receive your survey to the correct address.
We look forward to analysing all the contributions and thank everyone for the time taken to complete the survey.
Kevin Reilly RSPBA Chairman
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