Scotch College

Unique Highland Gathering a great 150 event Unique Highland Gathering a great 150 event

Unique Highland Gathering a great 150 event

Everyone who attended Highland Gathering on 7 April will long remember it as one of the most successful inter-school events in Scotch's long history.

Not only was it unique - the first Gathering of school pipe bands ever held in the Southern Hemisphere - but it was also one of the major events celebrating Scotch's 150th anniversary. To cap all that, the Gathering also marked the 55th anniversary of the raising of Scotch Pipes and Drums.

Many people helped make the dream of a major Highland Gathering a reality.

Major contributors included the Pipes Master, Ross Campbell and Major Norm Bain from the School Cadet Unit. The Pipes and Drums Auxiliary 150th Committee, led by Sheila Atkins and Deb Hart, was supported by the staff at the Williams RAAF Base, Laverton, who accommodated all visiting bands and staff.

A steady stream of competitors, parents, Scotch Family people and members of the public attended the Gathering throughout the fine but cool day, with the crowd peaking during the day's highlight - the massed band final performance at twilight.

In all, twelve bands with a total of three hundred and twenty pipers and drummers participated, representing schools from

New Zealand (three), Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales. Band members were delighted to have this unique opportunity to compete against so many other bands.

At the official opening, Chieftain of the Gathering, Rev. Archie Crow extended warm greetings to bands from both sides of the Tasman. 'In the tradition of Anzac, Australia and New Zealand have served together in war and peace,' Rev. Crow said.

'Today our combined pipes and drums will forge a new and vital connecting link between our two countries, a bond of lasting significance,' he said. Rev. Crow also noted that Scotch stands in an international line of pipes and drums going back to the Gordon Highlanders, raised in 1794, and famed for their charge at the Battle of Waterloo.

Guests included the Principals of Haileybury College, Melbourne, Scots College, Sydney, Scots School, Albury NSW and PLC, Perth, other representatives of competing schools and the RAAF.

The opening ceremony included a salute to the School Principal, Dr Gordon Donaldson, with the inaugural performance by our band of the 'Gordon Donaldson March', and a spectacular fly-past by the Royal Victorian Aero Club.

After an afternoon of keen competition, Dr Donaldson announced the winners and Rev. Crow presented the trophies.

First prize went to St Andrew's College (Christchurch, NZ) who won the Ross Campbell Trophy for the band with the highest aggregate points. Second (only half a point behind!) was Scotch (The Rev. Alexander Marshall Trophy) and third was John McGlashan College (Dunedin, NZ) who won The Rev. Archibald Crow Trophy. Other award winners were: champion Drum Major - David Silver of Scotch; best drum corps - St Andrew's College; highest piping points - Scotch; and best dressed band - PLC, Perth.

The Gathering wasn't over yet. A spectacular massed band performance took the spectators' breath away, as more than three hundred pipers and drummers paraded on the Main Oval. Right on cue, a bright shaft of late afternoon sunlight lit up the chapel, providing a dazzling backdrop to the massed band, as it played the 'Scotch Sesquicentenary March'. This was composed especially for the Gathering.

After a most amusingly choreographed performance by the City of Melbourne Pipe Band and a spectacular fireworks display, it only remained for a lone piper to bring the wonderfully successful Gathering to a close.

In the Australian National Pipes and Drums Championships, held at Ringwood on April 14 and 15, Scotch achieved the following outstanding results: winner of their division ('juvenile'); third in grade 4 (out of twelve bands); highest piping points; and the Robin Gardini Award. Congratulations to the band for its piping and drumming excellence.

An Old Boys' Pipes and Drums reunion is scheduled for Saturday 23 June in the Cardinal Pavilion at Scotch. Further details from Leanne Craven at the Old Boys' Office (9810 4302).

David Ashton