European Pipe Band Championships

Event description:

The event involved over 130 pipe bands and was used to foster participation in sport, physical activity and health by including activities for young people (eg mini Highland Games, Sports Come'n'Try events, Highland Dancing).

Type of event:

Festival

Date:

25 July 2009

Time:

10am-6pm

Ticket information:

Free Event

Organisation:

Inverclyde Council

Place:

Battery Park, Greenock
Economic and Social Regeneration Business Store Inverclyde 75-81 Cathcart Street Greenock
PA15 1DE
01475 715555

Is event accessible:

Yes

Website:

www.Inverclyde.gov.uk

Full details:

11.55am, 25 July - Bill Morris, LOCOG Head of Culture, Ceremonies and Education

This morning I'm on the banks of the Clyde, 15 miles or so west of Glasgow surrounded not by hundreds but thousands of pipers. Four thousand indeed. The European Pipe Band Championships are in Battery Park, Fort Matilda.

A more spectacular sight and sound it would be hard to find. The park looks out over the river to Strone Point, bronze heather glowing in milky sunshine,  as the Argyle Highlands rise out of the Clyde. The local ferry bustles in and out of the pretty port of Gourock on the way to Dunnoon, and 136 different pipe bands are in cut throat competition to become European Champions.

The event manager, Willie Wilson, told me I wouldn't need directions. 'Just get out of the train and follow the sound,' he explained. How right he was. For some the Pipes are an acquired taste, but few sounds can be more evocative, and in two hours at the championships I learnt more about triple reeds, chanters and pipe covers than might be good for me. But when Willie said 'You should be staying till the end of the day when all 4,000 play ensemble for the Chieftain's Salute,' I really wished I could.

But what, you may be thinking, has all this to do with London 2012? Well in the spirit of the Open Weekend, the pipe band championships have gone a stage further than inspiring new generations of musicians. They've established taster sessions in a range of sports, including Olympic disciplines as well as Highland Games. There was even a chance to try your hand a highland dancing, but, for their sake, that was my cue to head for the train...

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