All eyes focus on All-Ireland band contest
NEWCASTLE'S Donard Park hosts the 62nd All-Ireland Pipe Band Championships and Highland Festival today starting at 11.30am.
The All-Ireland contest has attracted entries from over 60 bands and will be recorded by the BBC for two programmes to be shown later in the year.
For this year’s event the Northern Ireland Branch of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, with support from the Ulster Scots Agency, has pulled out all the stops to ensure this is a festival for all the family.
A Highland dancing competition, historical re-enactments, Scottish country dancers and children’s activities are all on the agenda, however the pipe band championship remains the priority with focus, as always, on the Grade One competition.
The Grade One bands will be playing twice on the day beginning with the March Strathspey and Reel and then the Medley selection.
There are five bands entered with Field Marshal Montgomery looking to retain their All-Ireland title won last year at Letterkenny.
Richard Parkes’ outfit are virtually unstoppable when it comes to the All-Ireland and their main challenge this year may well come from St Laurence O’Toole.
The Dublin band is in good form and has featured regularly in the prizes at the major championships in recent years.
This season they have been collecting silverware at the two ‘majors’ to date - fourth at the Scottish Championship in Dumbarton and sixth at the British.
Under Pipe Major Terry Tully and leading drummer Steven Creighton, St Laurence have already beaten Field Marshal this season when they took first place at the Malahide Piping and Drumming Festival in May.
Bleary and District get the Grade One MSR competition underway followed by Field Marshal, St Laurence, Ballinderry Bridge and Ballycoan.
Grade Two has an entry of five bands with Phoenix Honda Glasgow Skye travelling over to compete against All-Ireland holders Killeen, Cullybackey, Seven Towers and Ravara.
Entries in all other grades are in double figures, with Grade 4A attracting 15 bands.
On the judging panel for the day are John Wilson, Linden Ingram, David Clark, David Brown, Finbar Connolly, Denver Cardwell, Ciaran Mordaunt and Gordon Parkes.
Judge for the dancing competition, which has 42 dancers, is Jean Swanston, from Pitlochry, Scotland.
n The RSPBA Northern Ireland Branch are running a concert on Friday, August 3, in Trinity Methodist Church Hall.
Featured on the night will be the Hamilton Police Pipe Band from Hamilton Ontario, Canada, and The College of Piping Pipe Band from Summerside PEI, Canada.
This event is the night before the Ulster Championship where both bands will be competing in their respective grades.
Also appearing is solo artist Ryan Canning, a piper from the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band.
The concert starts at 8pm and tickets are priced 5 and 3 concession.
More good news for fans of traditional music will be the appearance of Scotland’s Tannahill Weavers at Moira Demesne on August 4.
The Tannahill Weavers are regarded as one of Scotland’s premier traditional bands with a diverse repertoire which spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, and original ballads and lullabies.
Their music demonstrates to old and young alike the rich and varied musical heritage of the Celtic people.
Born of a session in Paisley, Scotland, and named for the town’s historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill, the group has made an international name for its special brand of Scottish music, blending the beauty of traditional melodies with the power of modern rhythms.
Over the years they have been trailblazers for Scottish music and are firmly established as one of the premier groups on the concert stage; from reflective ballads to footstomping reels and jigs, the variety and range of the material they perform is matched only by their enthusiasm and lively Celtic spirits.
Admission to the Festival Marquee is free. Please contact the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association NI Branch on 028 9267 0445 or email info@rspbani.org for additional information.
n A DVD recording of this year’s Co Fermanagh Championships is available, priced 12.
The programme, which has a running time of over two and a half hours, includes coverage of all the bands in each of the grades at the competition held at Broadmeadow, Enniskillen, on May 26.
In addition, there is also footage from the drum majors competitions including extended coverage of the senior drum majors final.
Complete with details of each band and its pipe major, the DVD gives comprehensive coverage of the opening outdoor contest of the local pipe band season with a full list of results from the day also included.
Co Fermanagh Branch chariman Cecil Jones said he was delighted with the interest shown in the DVD so far.
“Sales are going very well and while I don’t have an exact total sold to date, I think it has proved to be a great success,” he said.
“It is a good product and we have been getting great feedback so far from bandsmen and drum majors.”
Anyone wishing to purchase a copy can do so by contacting Cecil Jones (028 8554 8806 or 07753 823 073) or from All Things Tartan – Leslie Moffett (028 2586 1706).
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Weather for Belfast
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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