On The Day - Glasgow Worlds!

The day has arrived.....

05:20 - Kelly’s alarm goes off and she is off to make coffee. I elected to jump into the shower and free up the room for her to prepare. I had breakfast with some of the band members and started updating the blog. I will do the best I can with what I have.

06:30 - Dishes done & packing of lunches all started. Double checking for uniforms pieces and equipment is underway.

06:55 The band members start making their way to the bus as our departure time of 7:15 approaches. Everyone loads up and we start to do a head count…. still a few to come.

Kris & Doug load up!

07:07 I realize my entry ticket is in my bedroom drawer!!! I bolted out and ran to the room passing Jim Maxwell just before I entered the stairs. (go slow I thought!) I grabbed the ticket and got back on the bus at 07:11… I hate being that guy!

07:27 We headed down the hill to our designated parking spot which just happened to be a long walk from our playing area. Luck of the draw.

Jim Maxwell, Ian Booth and myself were tasked with finding the playing area, tune up area and a place for the band to assemble. Colin came along with J.W. and managed to find the entrance after a bit of a hike. Next was to determine the location of play. There was no map anywhere so I bought a program with all the details. Arena #7 was our playing area and we also located the warmup spot.  This took far longer than I had expected. Once sorted out, the band unloaded from the bus and trekked over to the opposite side of the park.  They eventually took a spot over pavement by the Nelson Monument and then waited. The park was filling up with people and bands assembled everywhere. It was organized band chaos with bands playing within meters of other bands tuning up. 

Each band was timing the play in an effort to have the pipes settled and tuned for the competition set in their respective arenas. As everyone had an initial play time, this became a time management exercise.  With this in mind, Warren didn’t want anyone playing until about an hour before they marched on.

Crowds gather!

Between Jim, Ian and myself, we met with the Stewards in Arena #7 and found out that two bands had pulled out of our 4A group. This didn’t effect the 10:28 play time that that was assigned.

09:30 - The band started to get on instruments with J.P. Troy tuning pipes and Kris running through the set with the drum corp.

Drum section preps.

Tune up underway.

Sounding good!

Last run through before heading to final tuning area

 10:12 - The band moved to the final tuning area and slipped through the fence to tune over pavement. It was sounding good as the final touches of tuning took place.

Warren stayed over the pavement to get better tuning conditions.

Marching up to the line.

10:22 - They formed up in the official tuning area and, after the previous band cleared the circle and the go ahead was given by the stewards, they march up to the line playing “Greater Victoria Police Pipe Band" written by Colin Magee… very fitting!

10:28 - The band marched into the circle as I went live on Facebook for our friends back in Victoria that stayed up through the wee hours to watch. (This was the high point)

It was gratifying to see them play after all the work that was done to get here. Was it perfect? No… an early E into the intro along with some transition issues into the strathspey coupled with a few execution errors. Very musical overall with nice tempos to my ear.

It was also great to see this group of people come together to represent our city of Victoria and Canada. A true family effort as Gord & Colin Magee and brother in law J.W.Troy and J.P. Troy tuning, Jill & Drew Mackay & son Alan & daughter Jenny, PM Warren Fells and daughter Leanne, Laurie & Paul Mundt, Doug Thorsteinson & Shelley, daughter Chelsea, Paul Leblanc and Ajay and of course Kelly Reaville & son Kris are all part of the band. (Sorry if I missed anyone!)

The band exited the circle and walked back to the original assembly area. The rest of the bands will now finish up their performances and then it’s up to the judges to determine which bands will move on the the 4A Finals later this afternoon.

We wandered back to the bus and had some lunch that Kelly had made for us. Others also returned and did the same. We then went back and checked out all the stalls that had set up around the park. Lots of pipe band equipment, sweets and clothing shops were well represented. We even got a geocache while walking about.

Kelly and her Gnome

We watched some of the preliminary play of the Grade 2’s, in particular The Collage Of Piping (Summerside) with Jacquie Troy. They sounded great!

The crowd gathered at the Nelson Monument  (reffered to as the needle) to see the bands that advanced shown on the big screen. Unfortunately the GVPPB did not make the cut and you could see & feel the disappointment in the band members (this is the low point).  Some consoling was done and then it was off to the beer garden as they were done for the day (except for the massed bands during awards)

After a few pints the mood became jovial and talk turned to more competitions and what the future will bring to this group. It was still a great experience for everyone.

Beer by the Needle

We watched some Grade 1 bands in the main circle as well as some Grade 2 bands in Arena 2. Great music all around us! Another trip back to the bus for a little nap and then to the beer garden to meet up with most all the band. They had the judges sheets and had a close look at the comments.

(The band placed 11th & 8th piping (two piping judges) 7th in drumming, 9th in ensemble with a final 10 place finish overall in the qualifier.)

The band gathered at the bus at 6 PM to assemble for the massed bands and awards ceremony.

The band marches onto the field.

Massed bands march in.

 I headed over to the main area as the bands marched in and were announced over the PA. They kept coming and coming with the GVPPB arriving as well. The temps dropped and I headed back to the bus and watched the livestream. Kelly gave me details and then the awards were announced. Inverarary & District came out on top with FMM second.

Once the awards ended the band returned to the bus and we departed for the university dorms. We somehow missed J.P Troy and didn't realize it until his pipes were found on the bus during unloading…. mm who’s pipes are these??  Looks like Jamie’s… where is Jamie? He managed to find his own way home it appears as he was in the Todd later:-)

Away for dinner but we ended up in Doug & Shelley’s room for pizza with a large group. Lots of good conversation as we watched little London perform.

Off to bed.