Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Lothian & Borders Branch | 75th Anniversary

Follow @RSPBALB

After the final contest of the 2016 branch season, please find below a link to the final branch champion of champions tables.

Click here for link

The file is in Excel format and will automatically download to your device.

Follow @RSPBALB

Congratulations to all bands and Drum Major's who competed at this year's Worlds. Special mention for the following Branch bands who were in the prize list.

Novice B
4th - Lochgelly High School
Champion of Champions Band - Lochgelly High School
Champion of Champion Drums - Preston Lodge High School

Novice A
4th - George Watson's College
6th - George Heriot's School

Grade 4B
5th - Davidson's Mains & District

Grade 4A
4th - Burntisland & District

Grade Juvenile
Drums - George Watson's College
1st - George Watson's College
3rd - George Heriot's Schools
4th - Peoples Ford - Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia
5th - West Lothian Schools
6th - Preston Lodge High School Champion of Champions Band - George Watson's College
Champion of Champion Drums - George Watson's College

Grade 3B
2nd - Wallacestone & District
4th - Prestonpans RBL
Champion of Champions Band - Prestonpans RBL

Grade 1
6th - Police Scotland Fife

Particular congratulations to the Juvenile band of George Watson's College who regained their Juvenile World Champion crown and declared as 2016 Champion of Champions for both Band and Drums, Prestonpans RBL on their Grade 3B Band Champion of Champions, Lochgelly High School and Preston Lodge High School for their Champion of Champions in Juvenile B Band and Drums respectively.

Follow @RSPBALB

The first branch event of the 2016 season was held on Saturday 16th April. The top three placings in the solo events are shown below, the band events can be found by clicking here.

Event 1
1st Lauren Birrell - George Watson's College
2nd Conor Haughney - George Watson's College
3rd Fraser Hamilton - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate

Event 2
1st Rory McKay - George Watson's College
2nd Tom Sanderson - George Watson's College
3rd Simon Morley - Unattached

Event 3
1st Paul Christie - George Heriot's School
2nd Blair Scott - Preston Lodge High School
3rd Sam Addis - Preston Lodge High School

Event 4
1st Brodie Watson-Massey - George Heriot's School
2nd Luke Kennedy - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate
3rd Maxim Grieve - George Watson's College

Event 5
1st Lewis Russell - West Lothian Schools
2nd Alistair Hutcheon - George Watson's College
3rd Holly Freelander - City of Edinburgh

Event 6
1st Calum Watson - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate
2nd Jonathon Simpson - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate
3rd Ciaren Ross - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate

Event 7
1st Alexander Grieve - George Watson's College
2nd Ethan Henderson - Tranent and District
3rd Owen Hunter - George Watson's College

Event 8
No entries

Event 9
1st Kerr McQuillan - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate
2nd Rachel Fairley - George Heriot's School
3rd Keir Murray - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate

Event 10
1st Duncan Greenshields - George Watson's College
2nd James Strachan - George Watson's College
3rd Guy Kellas - George Watson's College

Event 11
1st Reed Cameron - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate
2nd Louis Bendle - George Watson's College
3rd Rachel Thom - West Lothian Schools

Event 12
1st Craig Brown - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate
2nd Lorna Heggie - Torphichen and Bathgae
3rd Simon Grant - Prestonpans RBL

Event 13
1st George Gilhooley - George Watson's College
2nd Rose Winchester - George Watson's College
3rd Melissa Parry - George Watson's College

Event 14
1st Holly Harrison - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate
2nd Rhiannan MacAleese - North Lanarkshire Schools
3rd Elizabeth Fraser - George Watson's College

Event 15
1st Rachel Davies City of Edinburgh

The first outdoor event of the season for the L&B Branch will be at Dunbar on 14th May.

Follow @RSPBALB

Please note the due to Easter Sunday the March branch meeting has been rescheduled and will now take place on Sunday 3rd April and will be held at:

Bellsquary Hall
Bellsquarry
Livingston
EH54 9AA

Follow @RSPBALB

The branch AGM will take place on 29th November 2015 at 3.00pm and will be held at:

Bellsquary Hall
Bellsquarry
Livingston
EH54 9AA

Please find attached the files for the AGM pack including Cover Letter, Affiliation Fees 2015, Agenda and Elections. You can also read the minutes from the 2014 AGM.

May I also remind you that the Branch meetings are your chance to air your views, the elected committee are there to serve the bands it is up to you to attend meetings and let us know what you want.

The first Branch meeting of the season follows the AGM and will start at 5pm and will usually finish by 6pm.

Follow @RSPBALB

After the completion of all branch contests the final champion of champions spreadsheet has been updated. Please remember that branch champions are the drum major, band and drum corps in each grade with the highest points total from the best 5 contests they participate in.

Click here to download the Excel file.

Follow @RSPBALB

Please note the following time change for the Drum Majors event at the Edinburgh Contest on Saturday 22nd August.

In order to allow the Drum Majors to attend a funeral the Dress has been moved to 13:30

Follow @RSPBALB

As intimated at the RSPBA AGM, the practice of checking band registrations at both Major and minor contests will continue this season.

Random sample checks were carried out at Kinross on Saturday and will be again at Dunbar this coming Saturday.

The feedback from the bands was very positive and seen as a way of ensuring their information was up to date prior to the first Major of the season.

So please ensure your registrations are up to date and that you carry a copy with you

Follow @RSPBALB

Following another very successful Branch Indoor contest on Saturday 28th March 2015 at The James Young High School in Livingston, I would like to thank all the stewards, compilers, adjudicators, branch committee, and all the catering and facilities staff at the school for all their help and support. And thanks to all the bands, competitors, and supporters for their continued support of this event.

This year we had well over 200 solo competitors and of the 20 bands entered, 16 played on the day.

This year we tried out the full band format as opposed to the mini-band format at the event, following requests from a number of bands for a full band event in the Branch.

We had quite a bit of feedback on the day around the full band v mini-band question. From the Novice and Juvenile bands there was 100% support for the full band format as it allows all of the young people who are ready for competition to have a run out with the band, rather than having to select only a few players.

However from the Grade 4 and Grade 3 band who attended, they favoured a return to the mini-band format. As we didn't have any Grade 2 or Grade 1 representation at the event, I'd be keen to hear their thoughts on which format works best for them.

So I'd be keen to get feedback from all of the Branch Bands on their thoughts for this event going forward.

At this point the Branch Committee are proposing to keep the full band format for the Novice and Juvenile grades, and the mini-band format for Grade 4 and Grade 3 for next year. The Grade 2 and Grade 1 format remains undecided until we get some feedback from the Branch bands in those grades.

Please feel free to come along to the Branch Meeting or provide some feedback through our Facebook page.

The final Branch meeting before the start of the season is on Sunday 26th April at 6pm in the Bellsquarry Community Hall.

Follow @RSPBALB

The branch held their 2015 Solo Piping and Drumming events on Saturday 28th March at James Young High School in Livingston. For the first time the branch included a full band contest instead of a mini band contest.

With well over 200 Solo Performances and 16 full bands it was a busy day for everyone.

The summaries from the full band events are available here. There were 15 Solo Piping and Drumming Events, the top 3 places in each event went as follows:

Event 1 - Solo Chanter 10 Years & Under
1st Evan Hawkins - George Watson's College
2nd Cailean Campbell - Stow Scottish Borders
3rd Ewan Allan - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia

Event 2 - Solo Chanter 11 Years & Over
1st Evan Maciver - Peebles Ex-Servicemen's
2nd Jack Forbes - West Lothian Schools
3rd Alasdair Gemmell - Peebles Ex-Servicemen's

Event 3 - Solo Piping 14 Years & Under
1st Paul Christie - George Heriot's School
2nd Brodie Watson-Massey - George Heriot's School
3rd Erin Ritchiel - Preston Lodge High School

Event 4 - Junior Solo Piping 14 Years & Under
1st Lewis Russell - West Lothian Schools
2nd Ben Miller - West Lothian Schools
3rd Greig Will - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia

Event 5 - Solo Piping 15 - 18 Years
1st Alistair Hutcheon - George Watson's College
2nd Robert Kay - George Heriot's School
3rd Scott Young - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia

Event 6 - Solo Piping 18 Years & Over
1st Ciaren Ross - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia
2nd Emma Buchan - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia
3rd Greg Wilson - Simon Fraser University

Event 7 - Stick & Pad 10 Years & Under
1st James Thomson - Peebles Ex-Servicemen's
2nd Varun Ravikumar - George Heriot's Schools
3rd Megan Porteous - Davidson's Mains & District

Event 8 - Stick & Pad 11 Years & Over
1st Alexander Levi - George Watson's College
2nd Louis O'Brien - Davidson's Mains & District
3rd Sam Brown - Davidson's Mains & District

Event 9 - Snare Drum 14 Years & Under March
1st Struan Wallis - George Heriot's School
2nd Rachel Fairley - George Heriot's School
3rd Aaron Hall - Preston Lodge High School

Event 10 - Snare Drum 14 Years & Under MSR
1st James Strachan - George Watson's College
2nd Rachel Thom - West Lothian Schools
3rd Shawnisay Millar - Craigmount Caledonia

Event 11 - Snare Drum 15 - 18 Years MSR
1st Louis Bendle - George Watson's College
2nd Blair Logan - Preston Lodge High School
3rd Craig Baxter - Police Scotland Fife

Event 12 - Snare Drum Adult MSR
1st Gavin Orr - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia
2nd John Henderson - Scottish Power
3rd Lorna Heggie - Torphichen & Bathgate

Event 13 - Tenor Drum 14 Years & Under March
1st Lucy Carroll - West Lothian Schools
2nd Rachel MacMillan - George Watson's College
3rd Jamie Easton - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia

Event 14 - Tenor Drum 15 - 18 Year MSR
1st Lauran Thomson - Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia
2nd Cameron Anderson - George Watson's College
3rd Morven Walker - Prestonpans RBL

Event 15 - Tenor Drum Adult
1st Shannon Brown - Denny and Dunipace Gleneagles
2nd Alan Townsend - Denny and Dunipace Gleneagles
3rd Michael Rutherford - Prestonpans RBL

Follow @RSPBALB

We regret to announce that the Melrose competition scheduled for 1st August 2015 has now been cancelled.