Worlds Week 2005

Worlds Week 2005
Last week saw the hosting of the World Pipe Band Championships in the famous Glasgow Green, central Glasgow. The day was a fantastic display of top playing by bands from all over the world including Canada, USA, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland and even Oman and Pakistan. It was a real uniting of the clans. Musically we were not let down with many fantastic performances starting at 9am and finishing around 7pm but the Saturday was not the only time you could hear and see good music. The whole week was ablaze with rehearsals and performances day and night. I stayed in the unofficial hub of pipe band activity being the John Anderson Campus of the University of Strathclyde. Every morning we had the pleasure to watch preparations by the 78th Fraser Highlanders Drum Corps, Shotts and Dykehead Drum Corps, Windsor Police Drum Corps, St Mary's The Band Club from Sydney Australia and Nunawading also from Australia all going through their routines enroute for the big event. Then after every morning's feed of good rhythm we headed down town via the local sandwich bar to Georges Square where a stage was erected by the Glasgow International Piping Festival and were entertained by some great artists including Fred Morrison, Mark Saul from Australia and the Finlay MacDonald Band and many pipe band performances. Every lunch time you could catch some great live music. The afternoons were spent back at the Uni watching the drum corps practice with their pipe corps when we prepared for the evenings event.
Tuesday Evening				Night of the Masters
On Tuesday night, 5 top drummers Jim Kilpatrick (World Solo Champion and L/D Shotts and Dykehead), Gordon Brown (L/D Boghall and Bathgate), Eric Ward (L/D Strathclyde Police) Barry Wilson (L/D Scottish Power) and Blair Brown (Shotts and Dykehead) all performed solo their favourite sets and tricks, very entertaining. They finished the night up by playing one of Big Alex Duthart's drum salutes together. Check out Buzz Brown's home video snippets of the event at http://imageevent.com/buzz

Wednesday night as always was the night of the pre-worlds concert where a band is invited by the local Glasgow Skye Pipe Band to 'put on a show'. This year was the turn of a great Irish Band, the St Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band from Dublin and what a performance they put on. I was thoroughly entertained for over 2 hours by Steve Creighton's drum corps (and of course Terry Tully's pipers) so much so that on more than one occasion I wanted to leave my seat and lash up onto the stage and join in. Well you see it is my old band and you can't blame me for that eh? So that rounded up a great day of Drumming and Piping.

Thursday night was again another concert this time with the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band and reigning world champion drum corps lead by the great J. Reid Maxwell. They played a great fanfare and have a truly international lineup. I heard that they even have 2 drummers playing with them from Northern Ireland, great stuff.

Friday night was a night of local gossip down at the University's famous refreshments house 'the Lord Todd' Bar. That was great to meet up with friends who span decades and discuss the next day's events. So there you have it. Please click on the pics on this page to see the bigger ones and I will be putting more up in the next couple of weeks when they come in. If you are planning to travel to Scotland for the worlds week next year, go for the week is my recommendation and book yourself into the University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Campus. If you call and tell the receptionist that you are booking in to see the pipe bands, they will know where to book you into. Cost is very good at £12.50 per person per night. Unfortunately it's for single rooms only but then again you really only need a bed! That price is excluding breakfast which is available on request but the flats are in groups of 4 or 6 with common kitchen areas where you can cook and eat your own food.
Steve Creighton L/D St Laurence O'Toole		J. Reid Maxwell L/D Simon Fraser University				Drew Duthart L/D 78th Fraser Highlanders
Tim Farrelly of St.Laurence O'Toole with the 5th Place Band Trophy	Jim Kilpatrick and Drew Duthart			The Drum Corps of the St.Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band			The combined drum corps of the Shotts and Dykehead and 78th Fraser Highlanders drum together
Grade 1 results were: Drum Corps Results: 1st House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead (L/D Jim Kilpatrick); 2nd Strathclyde Police (L/D Eric Ward) Best Bass Section: Strathclyde Police Band Results: 1st House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead; 2nd Field Marshal Montgomery; 3rd Simon Fraser University; 4th Strathclyde Police; 5th St.Laurence O'Toole; 6th 78th Fraser Highlanders Thanks go to the RSPBA for the results on www.RSPBA.org. You can get the full results of every grade by going to the RSPBA site where you can log on for free (after a quick sign-up). The date for next year's world pipe band championships is set for Saturday August 12, 2006.
Alex McCormick ex L/D Glasgow Police 92 Years Young (Alex is the fella on the left)	St Mary's The Band Club Sydney, Australia Listen to their Performance			Shotts Drum Corps ready for their MSR			Vale of Atholl Snare Corps
Tom Brown drumming God with Mark Romer LD St Mary's The Band Club	That final "tweek" from the master			Boghall and Bathgate Snare Corps final tune for their MSR under the direction of LD Gordon Brown			Boghall and Bathgate Mid Section
LD Gordon Brown							We come from a land Downunder ~ "Nightmare!!!"
Scott and Tyler in their Shotts Mid Section just prior to their MSR performance			The Winning Drum Corps Sash proudly worn by World Champion Tenor Drummer Scott Currie		Conor McNally and the Boys of the O'Tooles came 3rd in MSR Drumming
"Are they an item?" ~ The Sash and Scott I mean.....	The wild Austr(al)ians			'Twas a long day			But the party rages on
The day was a great day of music and a fantastic chance to get right in there and hear the bands while they were tuning up. The days leading up to the big event were also crammed with loads of musical delights in the form of concerts and rehearsals. A great location if you are planning to travel next year to the World Championships is to stay at the University of Strathclyde John Anderson Campus which is the unofficial 'hub' of pipe band activities.
Useful Worlds Week links: University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Campus Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Piping Live Festival
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