Saturday 11 August 2007

Piping Live

I attended the World Pipe Band Championships today, and was unbelievably impressed by both the standard of the piping and the way the bands kept going even in the pouring rain. Most of the pipers seemed to have huge raincoats, but these were taken off when they performed in the arena. There was a great turnout by the crowd, and the finale where all the bands filled the arena and played was just amazing.

What also struck me was the distance bands had travelled - from England, Northern Ireland and Eire, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, even Pakistan Brazil and Oman! It made me really proud to see how Scots heritage and culture was being celebrated around the globe. Although other nations and regions have piping, there's surely not anything quite like this.

The Worlds will be broadcast on
Sunday 19th August on BBC 1 Scotland at 17:45 - I'll definately be tuning in!

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