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| December 2007 - Upcoming Engagements | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Though the "close season" is dormant, competition-wise, the bands are still very active at the
moment. Having just performed at our annual Christmas fund-raising concert in Bathgate Academy, the
bands are now taking a rest over the festive season. The tail end of 2007 and new year will see the Grade 1 band performing at a number of engagements including: The Night 'Afore, Edinburgh, 30th December 2007 Celtic Connections piping concert, 26th January 2008 Scotland V France, Murrayfield, 3rd February 2008 Scotland V France, Murrayfield, 8th March 2008 We look forward to the new year in great spirits and wish all our friends and fellow competitors a happy Christmas and a successful and prosperous New Year. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| December 2007 - Close Season Updates | |||||||||||||||||||||
Peebles 2007 - both Juvenile bands ended the 2007 competition season with a clutch of prizes at the final Lothian & Borders competition of the year. The Novice Juvenlies managed a great 2nd place behind local favourites George Watson's College and also a creditable 12th place in Grade 3. The Juvenile band came in 4th place in both the grade 3 and grade 2 competitons to round off a really good year. Jim Bird Memorial drumming solos, September - a battalion of Boghall drummers competed in the various different categories and came away with a barrow-load of prizes: 14 years & under
Juvenile Section 1
14 Years & Under MSR
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| 25th August 2007 - Cowal Championships, Dunoon | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The 2007 Championship season drew to a successful and historic close on Saturday in Dunoon. The main
headline was the Grade 1 Drum Corps winning the Champion of Champion drumming prize over the course
of the 2007 season after securing 2nd place on the day. This is only the second time the band has won the title,
the first time being 20 years ago in 1987 when the title was first competed for. This achievement is apt reward for Gordon and his team who have worked incredibly hard over the past 18-24 months to re-establish Boghall as a real powerhouse of pipe band drumming. Congratulations go to Gordon, Scott, Craig, Drew, Neil, Tommy, Glen, Alan, Sandra, Stephen, Bruce, Ash, Daz, Stevie, Eck, Charlie, David, Alan and Trevor. In other events the Novice Juvenile band secured another qualification for the final in their event, ultimately being placed in 11th place overall in the final and the drummers a fantastic 3rd position. PM Alvis Kerr remarked that it was probably the best performance the band had given all season. Hopefully with a good winter's practice, we may see the NJ band feature in the prizes next year. The Juvenile band showed good promise again but probably left their best performance in the tuning park rather than in the competition arena, ending up in 4th place with the drummers 3rd. Finally, as well as the Grade 1 drummers success, the Grade 1 band gave a cracking performance in the MSR competition, achieving a solid 3rd place behind the eventual winners Field Marshal Montgomery and local rivals The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead. This earned the band 4th place overall in the Champion of Champion's table which is an improvement on last year. The season officially draws to a close for the Juvenile bands at Peebles in 2 weeks time. We hope to keep you up to date with events over this winter season so stay tuned. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 18th August 2007 - Melrose | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Both Juvenile bands were on duty today at Melrose today in yet more
rain. Despite the weather the Novice band came in 3rd place in their
section and the Juveniles earned 4th place in Grade 3 and 6th place
in the Grade 2 competition. All 3 bands now travel next weekend to Dunoon for the Cowal Championships and in search of some sunny weather. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 11th August 2007 - The World Pipe Band Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Congratulations to our Juvenile Bass section who were crowned World Champions 2007 in
Glasgow on the 11th August. It has been a whole 10 years since the band last won this
title and we are proud to take the World title home again - well done guys! The Juveniles
continued to maintain their consistency of the season to finish fourth overall in their section. They obtained
a third and a fourth in piping, third in drumming and a fourth for ensemble. Novice: The Novice Band produced a strong performance in their heat but unfortunately did not qualify for the final. They finished seventh out of thirteen bands, which in itself is an excellent result in a difficult heat. The band members themselves were happy with their performance and were satisfied they had played their best on the day. Grade 1: The Grade 1 band had everything to play for. They drew their second MSR set which they executed well, and if the smiles on the player's faces as they left the field were anything to go by, the medley went well also. The band finished in 7th place overall, just missing out on a top 6 position to St. Laurence O'Toole on a MSR preference. Although we had hoped to finish higher in the placings this is still an excellent achievement for our G1, ensuring we maintain our title as one of the elite pipe bands in the world today. We have plenty of work to do but the band is focused on finish higher in the World rankings next year. Our results were as follows:
The BBC cameras were recording again this year. Highlights of the Worlds were broadcast on Sunday 19th August and our PM even made an appearance. In all, it was a great day out for our bands and much enjoyed by all. As for the weather - we won't mention it! Upcoming events: The Juvenile and Novice bands will be competing at Melrose on the 18th August and all bands will be at Cowal on the 25th August. As it stands our drummers are four points clear for the Champion of Champions; will they win? We will keep you posted. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 8th August 2007 - Boghall's build up to the Worlds | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Boghall bands are currently preparing for this year's World Pipe Band
Championships, held at Glasgow Green on Saturday 11th August 2007. For any visitors or other interested folks wishing to attend the band's practice sessions leading up to this big one, the band can be found in Deans Community High School in Livingston on the following dates:
The tunes the Grade 1 band will be playing are as follows:
We look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones during the week. |
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| 30th July 2007 - European Championships, Inverness | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Rain, rain and more rain. This season in gearing up to be one of the wettest
we can rememember. At a wet, cold and muddy Inverness, all 3 bands faired well at
the European Championships. The Novice band qualified for the final with a good quality performance and followed that with a similarly good run in the final, ending up in 11th place in the final out of a total entry of 22 bands. With all kids playing in the contest and with drop-outs this was a good achievement for them and shows all of them what they are capable of. The Juveniles played well, apart from a couple of "blooters", ended up in 2nd place to George Watson's College. With a first and a third in piping, second in both drumming and ensemble, they are continuing to knock on the door of a first place at a major championship. Hopefully this won't be too far off. The Grade 1 band delivered an excellent performance despite a sudden cloudburst just when they went on the field to compete. A second and a fifth for piping, second for drumming and fifth for ensemble saw them end up in 4th place overall which, though slightly disappointing, underlines the consistency that the band is now achieving. Next stop for all bands is North Berwick on 4th August, followed the week after by the World Championship. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 June 2007 - British Championships, Ballymena | |||||||||||||||||||||
| It was a successful trip to Northern Ireland for our G1 band. The band pulled in
2nd place overall and our drummers took home the British drumming title. We are delighted
with this result and we hope this success continues throughout the season. This is a significant result for our Drum Corps, representing their first major win since the Worlds in 2001. Leading drummer Gordon Brown accepted the Andante Sash for best Drum Corps on behalf of the band. As a whole this is an excellent result for the G1 band. Placed 2nd as a band and 3rd as an ensemble provides our strongest result since Cowal in 2005.
Ballymena also saw the G1 band issued with new capes. The capes, customised with the band logo, provided much needed protection from the torrential downpours of the afternoon. We hope to have some pictures of G1 and their capes on the site soon. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| June 2007 - Gala Day updates | |||||||||||||||||||||
| June has been a busy month for the band and local Gala days.
June 2nd saw a start to the Gala day events with all three bands
taking part in the Bathgate Procession.
The Boghall presence was maintained at the Blackburn Gala day on June 9th and by the
Juvenile bands at the Deans Gala day on June 16th. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 28th May 2007 - Bathgate Highland Games | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Both Juvenile bands were in action this weekend at the local Highland Games while the
Grade 1 band were unable to perform due to some last minute absences of key players in the band The Novice Juvenile band were 4th in the Novice Juvenile section and also performed well in the Grade 3 contest without featuring in the prizes. Some more good experience under their belt. The Juvenile band gave 2 good performances om the day gaining them 4th place in the Grade 3 competition and also 4th place in the Grade 2 contest. According to the Pipe Major, the band's performance in the Grade 2 contest was the first time he felt the band has really hit the mark and was encouraged at the high quality now being achieved. More of the same will ensure a tightly contested Juvenile competition at the next Major Championship in Northern Ireland at the end of June There are one or two pictures of the Juvenile bands in action at Bathgate in the gallery - do check them out! | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 22nd May 2007 - First Outdoors Competition Update | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The early season competitions are now over and all the bands have achieved some
notable success At Dunbar on the 12th May the Novice Juvenile band were 6th out of 13 bands in their grade. This was a good achievement iven that there were around 7 pipers and a good number of drummers competing for the very first time. The Juvenile band came in a strong 2nd in the Juvenile grade and also were placed 8th when "playing up" in Grade 2. At the Scottish Championships on 22nd May at a cold and very wet Dumbarton, all 3 bands competed in very difficult conditions. The Novice band unfortunately did not qualify for the final despite what they thought was a pretty good performance. The Juvenile band delivered an excellent Medley and finished 3rd in a very tight Juvenile compeitition. The top 3 bands in Juvenile had 9 points with Ensemble marks ultimately deciding the result. They take a lot of positives from this result, particularly as they did actually win the piping. Last but not least, the Grade 1 band managed to deliver a great performance despite atrocious weather conditions during the preparation and on the competition field. With a 2nd for drumming and 4th overall for piping, their 8th for Ensemble ultimately cost them a couple of places with the band finishing 6th overall. Lots of positives to take forward for the rest of the season. Next stop Bathgate Highland Games. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th May 2007 - L&B Mini Bands update | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Our Juvenile bands made a great start to the competition season at the Lothian & Borders
Mini Band competition on Sunday 21st April. The Novice Juvenile band won their mini band competition with their second mini band coming in 4th place overall. The Juvenile band came in a close second to their local rivals George Watson's College in both the Juvenile competition and also the grade 2 competition. A fantastic start to the season by both that shows real promise for the summer ahead. At the same competition there were also a number of successes in the solo piping and drumming: Junior Solo Piping MSR
Saturday 12 May heralds the start of the outdoor season with the competition at a usually chilly Dunbar. Hope to see you there! | |||||||||||||||||||||
2006 News Archive |
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2005 News Archive |
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2004 News Archive |
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2003 News Archive |
