Scotch College

Pipes and drums on tour in Northern Ireland & Scotland

Band members recently participated in a tour of Northern Ireland and Scotland. Staff and boys enjoyed flying in the new Boeing 777, although we didn't get approval for a tour of this plane's flight deck.

After a long outbound flight we arrived in Dublin expecting tight security and thorough customs inspections. In fact, the area was inexplicably deserted, so we collected all the bags, loaded the trolleys and at 'double time' followed the green arrows (nothing to declare!) through the empty custom's maze and exited into the public arena.

The European Championships at Bangor were very impressive with 117 bands in attendance - imagine the organised chaos as they tried to tune up! Drum Major Robert Watson described the Drum Major's competition as awesome - about 75 Drum Majors strutting their stuff in ranks five abreast, with maces twirling every whichway (and not a few falling to the ground!)

The boys explored the magnificent coastline of Northern Ireland for a day, traversed the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and explored unusual basalt rock formations of the Giant's Causeway.

The boys frequently practised playing their chanters, as the buses drove the highways and byways, as we explored Eilean Donan Castle, the highlands and islands. This musical accompaniment certainly added to the atmosphere of the occasion.

Our visit to St Columba's Abbey on Iona was a major highlight, even better since we braved a force 8 gale as we crossed on the ferry.

Driven by Mr Norm Bain, a visit to Dunvegan Castle and the site of the old MacCrimmon piping school at Borreraig on Skye was a memorable day, as was a morning at the new Glasgow Piping Centre. Here we had a very informative tour of the centre, saw some very old and intriguing bagpipes and learnt a great deal about the history of the pipes.

Congratulations to Jonathan Quay and Peter North for beating the Scots at their own game at the Cupar Highland Gathering. In the solo piping events, John gained a first and two seconds to win the section outright, and Peter came third in the march event.

On several occasions, Scotch boys were invited to play the pipes of buskers, to the great delight of the public! Our departure from Manchester, allowed the opportunity to visit York's famous Viking museum, the Roman fort at Homesteads on Hadrian's Wall and an overnight in an early 18th century building, with pub dinner in a North Yorkshire country village.

An exhausted, but smiling group of students greeted their parents at dawn - testimony to a fantastic, action packed and very enjoyable itinerary.

Mr Jeff Watson