Wallacestone & District Pipe Band

The new competition season is now upon us and the band will take part in the grade 2 contest at the British Championships to be held in Paisley on Saturday 19th May.
This should be a challenging season for the band having been promoted twice in two years and will be playing in the second grade for the first time in many years.
Good luck to the band, who have had to work hard over the winter, but are ready to give it their best.
Last month’s “There and Back Again” concert was a huge success with the band doing their reputation nothing but good. Thanks again to guest soloists Ally Henderson and Ben Duncan for their contribution and also to former piper Stuart Cassells, who did a superb job as MC and was even persuaded to change into the band’s kilt later in the evening.
The event was photographed by Kenny Ritchie and a small sample of his wonderful photos are attached here and the link below should take you to his page and almost 200 photos recording the evenings proceedings.

https://www.facebook.com/stingerphotiz/

The band has spent the long winter nights
preparing new music and resurrecting some
older favourites for their forthcoming concert.

“There and Back Again” hints at the band’s recent successes
and their aim of returning once more to the top grade.
The show, which will be held in the Dobbie Hall, Larbert on
Friday 20th April, will also feature performances
from two of the best solo pipers in the country.

Alasdair Henderson, the current pipe sergeant of the
2017 Grade One World Champions, Inveraray and District,
who then topped a brilliant solo season by winning the
Gold Medal for piobaireachd at the Northern Meeting in Inverness,
will be sure to impress .
Also in the a star studded line up will be  Sergeant Ben Duncan
of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
Ben amassed over 70 solo prizes in 2017 including the “A” grade March, Strathspey and Reel at the Northern Meeting and was named  The Highlands & Islands “Young Piper of the Year”.

MC for the evenings proceedings will be the founder of the “Red Hot Chilli Pipers” and former Wallacestone pipe band member, Stuart Cassells.

Tickets for the show are £12.50 each and can be obtained by contacting the band through its Facebook page of any band member.
It should be an excellent evenings entertainment so don’t miss it.

The band received the recognition they deserved today (23rd September) when the music board of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association met and announced the regradings for the 2018 competition season.
Both Wallacestone, who finished as Champion of Champions in grade 3A and the Royal Burgh of Stirling, who finished as runners up, have been promoted to grade 2.

This was a fantastic achievement for the band who were only promoted into grade 3A twelve months ago.
Well done to all at Wallacestone and to PM Mark Sutherland of the Royal Burgh of Stirling.
Good luck for next season.

The band were slightly below their best at Dumbarton last weekend but still managed a top three finish which keeps them top of the table with only the World Championships on 12th of August between them and the Champion of Champions title.
The band are now 6 points clear of their nearest rivals and must now be clear favourites for the title.
The grade 3A World title was also be nice after finishing in the runner up spot last year in grade 3B.
Keep up the hard work!

Another Major  title was added to this seasons successes
when the band took the grade 3A European Champions
last weekend in Forres.
This now leaves the band five points clear in the race
for the coveted Champion of Champions title, with
the Scottish and World titles still to play for.
A brilliant result for the band. Well done.

The band travelled to Belfast last weekend to attend the UK Pipe Band Championships
which were held on the Stormont Estate in the city. Playing third out of a field of 14 bands in grade 3A they put in there best performance of the year to win the UK title.
A brilliant result for the band who were only promoted into the grade at the
end of last season.
They will travel up to Forres at the end of the month and are hoping for a similar result
at the European Championships.

The band put in a very creditable performance at the first Major Championship of the season at Paisley and despite being newly promoted to the grade and having an early draw, managed to finish in 5th place.
The following week at the West Lothian Games in Bathgate, the band had a clean sweep of trophies in grade 3 and finished 2nd in the grade 2 contest. The drummers also had a successful day, taking the drumming prize in both grades, best bass section in grade 3 and even won the Marching & Discipline to round off a very successful afternoon.

British Championships 2017

The event was well recorded by Kenny Ritchie, husband of the band’s
new bass drummer Fiona, whose photo album can be viewed by following this link.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/stingerphotiz/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1991254761094791

Eilidh

Wallacestone’s first outdoor contest of the season took place at Dunbar on Saturday 13th May where the band once again finished 1st in grade 3, this time from a field of 9 bands.
Pipe Major Neil Henderson was delighted with the result, which was a great preparation for the British Championships at Paisley on Saturday 20th May.
Drummer Eilidh Young who is from Sydney Australia and was playing with the band for the first time also seemed to be very happy with the win.

Good luck to all who are traveling to Paisley at the weekend.

The 2017 competition season got underway in the best possible way at the weekend. Taking part in the Lothian & Borders Branch contest at James Young High,Livingston, the band entered two bands and won both 1st and 2nd prize in the grade 3 mini band contest.
In the solo piping events the band entered three players, with Pipe Major Neil Henderson finishing 3rd in the adult contest. In the 11 years and over, chanter event, Ruth Macdonald finished 1st in her first ever contest, with Connor Anderson taking 3rd place.
A fantastic effort all round, well done to all, especially Ruth’s proud father, piper Stephen Macdonald.

1st & 2nd in mini bands