Review of 2006

It’s been a busy year for the pipe band. The past six months have been a time of growth and change for all of us as we farewelled some familiar faces but also welcomed some new friends to our ranks. Our successful Market Day performance resulted in the recruitment of several new band members, both learners and experienced players. In particular, we were surprised with the contingent of vet students who joined us, as this now brings the number of animal-lovers in our band to five. Perhaps it’s something they’re told about in the first lecture?!?

Our first engagement of the year was the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Brisbane. The band looked smart in its new waistcoats and put on a good show for the crowds. The refreshments at the conclusion of the march were enjoyed by everyone, and as usual, this provided us with a good opportunity to become better acquainted with new members of the band. Demonstrating the band’s dedication (and endurance!), we then headed back to St Lucia to perform at the College’s cocktail party.

Band practice then geared up into full swing as we prepared for the annual Highland Gathering at Maclean, New South Wales, over the Easter weekend. This competition is one of the largest and most prestigious in Australia, and so we were pleased with the band’s performance against such strong competition, particularly because of our last-minute recruitment of our bass drummer. Special mention should also be given to Fraser, who again did us proud with his solo piping, especially with his third place in the Open Piobaireachd. This places Fraser in the top echelon of solo pipers in Eastern Australia.

The Maclean weekend is always a memorable experience which usually begins with the epic journey down the gridlocked Pacific Motorway. Following arrival in Maclean, the band legitimately set up camp in the High School hall, although the police officers who responded to the numerous activations of the security alarm during the night firmly believed that we were squatting, despite presentation of the hall keys and alarm security codes, and proceeded to interrogate band member Bernadette. Luckily, no conviction was recorded! Dinner at the Maclean RSL also proved eventful, with a marathon arm-wrestle between two of our female pipers raising over $100 for the Westpac Helicopter through donations from onlookers.

Next came the ANZAC Day Parade through the streets of Brisbane, where the band again looked and sounded great. Several band members played with the band for the first time and did a great job. Our enthusiastic chanter learner Louisa and her guide dog Jazz, with the help of College student Liam, also participated with the band by carrying our new sign. This, along with the fabulous bass drum, which was so kindly donated by the Emmanuel College Foundation, helped in the identification of our band. Our thanks must go to Mr Neil Watson for his work in organising this, and subsequently encouraging our flourishing drum corps. Because of their apparent reluctance to associate themselves with the pipers at practice (due to their preference for hot chips and coffee), and their secretly coded drum scores, we have dubbed them the ‘Top Secret Drum Corps’ in homage to their namesake, the Swiss group made famous by their appearance at the Edinburgh Tattoo.

The next few months gave the band an opportunity to continue practising as an ensemble, and also for the pipe corps to learn a new set of competition marches (which we hope to debut in early September). The improvement of the band as a whole has been very promising, and this is due in no small part to our tutors (Doug, Duncan and Fraser), who are always willing to share their wise words.

The band also participated at the annual Tartan Day celebration at Southbank in early July, which was an enjoyable day out those who were able to attend.

As the University semester is now back in full swing, we are now working towards the Queensland competition season, which begins with the Macgregor Contest in early September, and culminated with the Queensland Pipe Band Championships to be held at Redlands. At this competition last year, the band was awarded the Eddie Santagiulana Memorial Trophy for the judges’ selection for the best unplaced Grade 4 band, and we hope to build on this achievement. However, we also hope that this year’s contest will be slightly drier than last year’s wash-out – we had never considered flippers as band uniform before!

Despite the hectic schedules of many members of the band, everyone still manages to put in a lot of time and effort to make sure that things run smoothly, and our recent successful chocolate drive is evidence of this. But it’s not all hard work! The College kindly provides us with dinner every Tuesday night and also kindly puts on this special event each year. In particular, Malcolm is grateful for this service, and so we have elevated him to the honourable position of Duty Piper, for his amazing ability to herald the evening meal by his arrival. Furthermore, band events are also eagerly anticipated social occasions which allow strong friendships to form. We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome baby Kweller to our ranks, and hope to see him participating at practice soon! Finally, thanks must go to our valued Pipe Major Andrew for his effort and commitment towards the band, as well as his unwavering sense of humour, and to all band members for their dedication.

Thank you all for your attendance this evening and your support of the band; we hope you have an enjoyable evening.