COY’S
PIPES & DRUMS
A busy year ahead for the Pipes & Drums.
week in Inverness.
By M. Pretsell
This year we were able to take 5 Cadet Pipers
and 2 Cadet Drummers and 4 of these made
the Big Parades in Dingwall and Inverness,
including Cpl Josh Marsh who was the Senior
Pipe Major - the first time Lothian & Borders
have achieved this since Cpl Ben Duncan did
it in 2004. Josh was also awarded Best
Overall Piper on the course.
Preparation starts in September with a
weekend camp in Ayr (West Lowland Bn)
followed by another in Glenrothes (Black
Watch Bn) in November.
In between these camps, the Advance Pipers
and Drummers hone their skills and gain SQA
Qualifications at a week long course held in
October.
The bands and soloist are able to show what
they can do at the Competition immediately
after this: we missed out (again!!) this year as
a band and quartet but had some solo
successes with Cadet Lewis Russell, Cpl Josh
Marsh, Cpl Matthew Moore and Cadet Keiva
Downie all picking up prizes.
After the Christmas break, weekends at
Drumshoreland (Lothian & Borders Bn),
Dechmont (Glasgow & Lanark Bn) and Barry
Budden (Angus & Dundee Bn) lead up to the
15
We had 5 Cadets on Parade at Edinburgh
Castle with 2 or 3 narrowly missing out. Again
Josh was the Senior Pipe Major and did a
grand job.
There is still a trip to the Moscow this year to
look forward to (on the back of 2 successful
Berlin Tattoos in 2011 and 2012) and this
year, for the very first time, we're running a
basic Piping & Drumming course in July
before we start all over again at Ayr in
September......"