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| 27th August - Cowal Championships |
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| 13th August - World Championships - Glasgow |
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The Worlds is always the most anticipated and exciting contest that all three of our bands participate in each year. The chance to show the world what we can acheive as an organisation is an opportunity that we will always take seriously and enjoy at the same time. All three bands work extremely hard to be ready for the worlds. "After our two good performances at North Berwick it was back into the practice hall on the Monday for the big build up to the Worlds. The pressure was on right from the word “go”, practice seemed to go up a gear from the previous few. We all had one common aim, to go and do well at the Worlds. On the Tuesday, 8 pipers and 6 drummers from the Juvie band travelled through to the College of Piping in Glasgow to give a performance as part of the Piping Live! festival. We played really well with a good sound and I feel that’s where it clicked that we were going to play well on Saturday.. Back to band on Wednesday for another hard night, we had a chanter practice to make sure everyone was playing everything exactly how Ian wanted it. Thursday night off and a chance to catch some more of the festival in Glasgow and to take in the electric atmosphere around the city. On Friday it was to the Todd Bar at the University of Strathclyde for an outdoor practice. The band was sounding great and the playing was improving all the time. It was encouraging to see many familiar faces from bands competing against us and the grade 1 band having a listen before the big day. Saturday came, this was it. Unfortunately, it was an early start but everyone was in good spirits, we tuned up in the same place as last year and when we were playing across to the line the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, all we had to do now was “keep the heid” and be confident. The performance was musical with a big robust sound. Everyone was happy afterwards so we could relax and wait for the results with anticipation of getting a good prize." Ross Miller, Juvenile Band.
Special congratulations are in order for the Grade One Drum Corps who won the MSR contest! Thanks to BBC Scotland, we are also able to bring you both of the Grade One Band's performances from the day starting with the MSR: And the Medley: |
| 6th August - North Berwick |
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| 29th July - European Championships - Belfast |
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| 25th June - British Championships - Annan |
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| Ian MacLean 5th April 1936 – 20th June 2011 |
Ian MacLean, ex-bass drummer of Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band, passed away on Monday
20th June at Stirling Royal Infirmary after a long illness. Ian joined the Boghall organization in 1977
after playing with the BP Grangemouth Pipe Band under PM Colin Drummond and quickly established a
reputation for delivering an improved quality of sound from the bass drum.
In those early days, Ian formed the experienced backbone of that young Boghall band alongside P/M Bob Martin and L/D Tom Brown. During that time, Ian pioneered many of the techniques used in today’s bass sections, manufacturing his own sticks and developing new ways to dampen the drum, bringing a rich bass drum sound to the band that had never been heard before. 
Recalling a conversation with Ian, Tom Brown said “I asked Ian one time how he knew when his drum
was in tune. Ian replied that he could tell by the vibrations on his chest. It was becoming apparent that he
was a bit special when one day I discovered he had cut up sheepskin rugs to put in the drum, just to get
the sound he was looking for”.
The success of the band during those early years in Grade 1 was mirrored by Ian’s achievements, winning the first world championship prize for best bass in 1980, the first of his 3 titles. Ian also took great pride in his contribution to some memorable and pioneering Drum Fanfares with the young Boghall Corps, that were traditionally performed by the defending Grade Drumming Champions as part of the March Past Ceremonies at the World Pipe Band Championships in the early 1980s. He played with the band until his retirement in 1993, handing over his sticks to Darren Owenson, who remains Boghall’s bass drummer. Ian did come out of retirement, briefly at the British Pipe Band Championship at Banbridge, Northern Ireland in 2001 to cover for Darren, which was a real joy for the band and Ian alike and spoke volumes for his commitment to the cause. 
Ian was well known for his energetic and friendly personality. In addition his generosity was always
reflected in the ability to share his knowledge with anyone who asked .He was instrumental in teaching
all the Boghall bass drummers who followed in his footsteps over the years. In remembering him, Darren
Owenson remarked “Ian was a real character, full of fun and loved his bass like he loved his wife Agnes”.
Ian’s memory will live on in the band and with everyone who met him and heard him play. It will also live on through the famous Boghall hornpipe that was named in his honour and his role in the mining industry. There was only ever one “Big Road Brusher” and the pipe band world is just that little bit less colourful for his passing. PM Ross Walker |
| 28th May - West Lothian Highland Games |
Following the theme of the rest of the season so far, all three bands were forced to dodge the heavy showers of rain whilst preparing to go on. At several points during the day the bright sunshine would turn to monsoon like rain and back again within the space of ten minutes. Hardly ideal pipe band conditions!
Solo piping results to follow. |
| 21st May - Scottish Championships - Dumbarton |
The fist major contest of 2011 was the wettest contest for years. Everyone faced the same challanges that playing in unrelenting rain brings. Bands could be found huddled under trees, tents, umbrellas, in fact, anything that provided some sort of releif from the downpour.
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| 14th May - Dunbar |
2011 kicked off with a some rather unpredictable weather in Dunbar. The Juvenile and Novice Juvenile bands both braved the cold, windy and showery condtions to perform as well as they possibly could.
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| 26th March - Peebles Solos and Mini Band Contest |
| Here are the results from Saturday's Lothian and Borders indoor solo and mini band competition. Solo Results
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| Lomond and Clyde Indoor Contest |
| The pipe band season got off to an early start in 2011 with the grade one band competing at the Lomond and Clyde Invitational Contest on Saturday 19th March. This contest is now in its second year and has quickly become a popular event with a top class venue, high quality bands and a full panel of judges. With the contest taking place on a stage and the bands being limited to a maximum of 10 pipers, 4 side drummers, a bass drummer and 3 tenor drummers this was undoubtedly new territory for the band, although some of the ‘older’ heads did compare it to their experiences of the grade one miniband contests of the 1980s! The contest was split into two heats and the band was pleased to get the competition season underway with a solid performance of their Big Road Brusher medley. With the heat being judged by 8 separate judges (4 piping, 2 drumming and 2 ensemble) we ended up with a remarkable situation where the final marks resulted in a three way tie for first place between ourselves, ScottishPower and Inveraray and District. With the bands being tied on both total points and ensemble marks the organisers deemed that the bands could not be separated and decided that all three bands should progress to the final. The final itself was another top class affair with each of the five bands playing both an MSR and a medley. This was an incredibly close contest and the band was pleased to put in another two solid runs, but ultimately finished up a close second behind two excellent performances from ScottishPower. Congratulations to them on their success and also to Lomond and Clyde Pipe Band for putting on a fantastic event. The whole contest was professionally recorded by Lomond and Clyde and every performance from the day can be downloaded from here. On the same day as the contest the other half of the grade one band took to the pitch at Murrayfield to play for the Scotland rugby team prior to their Six Nations victory over Italy. Overall the grade one band fielded 20 pipers, 9 snare drummers and a full bass section across the two events and with 24 separate judging sheets to build upon we can’t wait for the start of the start of the outdoor season. The grade one band will next be in competitive action at the Scottish Championships on Saturday 21st May, but both the Novice and Juvenile bands will be making their competitive debuts for the season this Saturday (26th March) at the Lothian and Border’s miniband contest in Peebles. Hope to see some of you there. Andrew Ray. |
| A weekend away at band camp! |
| Last weekend 25 pipers and drummers from the Boghall and Bathgate Novice Juvenile Band descended upon ‘The Craigs’ camp site in Torphichen for a weekend of tuition and activities. They arrived early on the Friday evening and were quickly launched into a series of activities to help them get to know each other. The noise level gradually rose and the parents drifted away with many looking delighted at the prospect of a quiet weekend! After a series of introductions and essential ground rules the first band practice was underway. With an age range of between 9 and 17 and a varying degree of playing ability this is arguably one of the hardest levels to teach as a group, but thankfully with 4 resident tutors and others coming in to take specific classes, a tailored programme was delivered and each child was able to receive tuition either as an individual or in smaller groups. The first band practice went well but unfortunately had little impact on the energy levels and soon the kids were running around and playing games again. They all had a great time and were reluctant to be told bed time was at half 10. One 10 year old actually told me that half 10 was nowhere near his ‘normal’ bed time and tried to convince me that he normally went to bed at half 1…..! Unsurprisingly there were a few tired looking faces the next morning, but band practice was underway again straight after breakfast. A productive morning was spent working on technique and tuning and the performances as a band were really starting to take shape. The kids then had a break and took the opportunity to play football with the instructors but for the life of me I just can’t remember the result! The kids also had the opportunity to explore the facilities that ‘The Craigs’ had to offer and spent ages exploring the adventure play area and playing on the flying fox. Further band practices and solo instruction in the afternoon saw continued improvement and before long we were coming towards the end of the camp. A few more games took place on the Saturday evening alongside some impromptu piping and drumming performances but everyone was feeling more tired than the previous night and there was notably less disapproval from the kids when bedtime was called! A final full band practice on the Sunday morning highlighted just how much progress had been made with all sections of the band showing a notable improvement. The parents arrived for lunch on Sunday (all looking remarkably refreshed in comparison to the tutors!) and were delighted to see how many new friendships had formed and how well the band was playing. Everybody had a fantastic time at the camp and thanks must be extended to Douglas Horn for all his hard work in coordinating the facilities, activities and food! Thanks also to all the tutors, parent helpers and most of all the kids for making the camp a great success. Andrew Ray. |
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