World Piping Championships!

Yep, it's raining! God dammit to hell! We dressed in the best gear we could to enjoy the rain. Haha. We grabbed a taxi to Glasgow Green where it was all happening. We arrived around 10:30am. Keith has been wanting to attend this event for many years - it was so exciting to be there with him.

When we arrived the Halifax Police band was playing. What timing! They go every year. They were doing their qualifying performance at this time. Unfortunately they didn't qualify. Once they were finished we went to talk to them as Keith knows half a dozen of them as he used to play with them in Shearwater. The band is made up of quite a few military people. I finally met Alan MacKenzie who I've heard so much about. He did a posting here just a few years ago - it may have been last year he went back to Canada. We actually have his TV and a few other items as electrical stuff (different power from Canada) just gets handed down to the next Canadian that is posted in.

We eventually grabbed our seats in the stands and watched the absolutely amazing piping and drumming. Simon Fraser University from BC was also there - they are excellent. This picture is of them. There were actually quite a few - I would say atleast a dozen - Canadian bands there. They were of various grades (1-4) with only SFU and a band from Alberta being grade 1 bands - the highest grade (top level in piping and drumming).

Five hours later and being soaking wet right to the bone, we watched as Field Marshal Montgomery of Northern Ireland won this years title, retaining the title they won last year. Simon Fraser came in second! So impressive to see a Canadian band be the 2nd best in the world.

At the end they had the parade of bands onto the Green for the prize announcements. When it was all finished they all played Scotland the Brave. Quite impressive.

After everything was finished we were so happy to get back to our hotel and get warm and dry. We lazed around for a bit then we popped over to the Oriental restaurant next door. Their menu offered Thai, Japanese and Chinese fare. Fabulous food and atmosphere! All in all a good day even if we did get soaked! It was worth it.