Stuart Tait

It is with great regret that the Band marks the passing of Stuart Tait, who died on Friday 26th June.
Stuart was a stalwart of the Boys Brigade band in the 1960's and a founder member of the re-constituted band in the 1970's.
Stuart will be greatly missed by his many friends. Our thoughts are with his family.

La belle France

On Friday (26th) the Band sets off on a trip to Coldstream's twin town, Bennecourt, France. Situated on the border between Normandy and Ille de France, on the banks of the River Seine, it is a lovely place.

Compared to some twin town arrangements, this one is spot on; both towns are agricultural, relatively close to big cities and close enough to less prosperous towns to remind the residents how lucky they are - Bennecourt has Bonniere-sur-Seine and we have Duns. (before Huttonian takes grave offence, that gag works both ways).

Close by Bennecourt is Giverny, home to Claud Monet and his famous garden. http://giverny.org/monet/welcome.htm

And if you fall in the river at Bennecourt you really are in-seine! Ha ha! (copyright Spike Milligan).

Here are some memories from past trips to Bennecourt.

Booking list

A reminder of the bookings remaining this year:

June
26th: Bennecourt trip (France)

July
18th: Kelso Civic Week

August
2nd: Civic Week Opening Ceremony
3rd: Norham Ride
6th: Flodden Day
7th: Torchlight
8th: Fancy Dress, Beating Retreat

30th
Massed Bands, Floors Castle

November
8th: Remembrance Day

Hawick Highland Games

The most fun seen at Mansfield Park this season: the Massed Bands led by James!

Peebles Beltane Festival

The past weekend was a busy one for the band with the Peebles Beltane Parade on Saturday and Hawick Highland Games on Sunday.

The Beltane fancy dress parade has been an annual fixture in the band's roster for any number of years and, 'incidents' with fire extinguishers apart, has always been a quiet and reflective event. More about the Beltane here: http://www.returntotheridings.co.uk/peebles.html

Check out the band playing up the High Street of Peebles: the camera-person seems very focused on the Drum Major! The drummers are clear winners of the Dress & Deportment award.

Jim Clark Rally

This years rally ran from 22-24 May. The Band was asked to play in Duns for the finale of the event and were more than happy to do so. Info about the rally here: http://www.jimclarkrally.com/

Trip to Brymbo - the truth at last!

This report of the trip to Wales from Ian Cockburn;

I hope you all enjoyed Coldstream Pipe Band’s first trip to Wales last Weekend.
The concert performance on Saturday night was excellent. All that practicing on Monday nights certainly paid off. This should also set us up for the rest of the year.
Ged took a video of the concert and lots of photos so we will try to arrange a showing of the video and photos sometime in the future. This will probably be after the trip to France so we can cover both trips on the same night.
For those of you who couldn’t make it to Wales this is a brief summary of what went on.
The band played on Saturday afternoon in Wrexham along with the French band from that came to Coldstream, the Corps of drums and the Welsh choir. The Mayor of Wrexham was present at this event. James presented a bottle of Whisky to the Mayor on behalf of the Pipe Band.
The main event of the weekend was the concert in Brymbo. The Pipe Band opened the concert and were followed by the Corps of drums, the French band and the Welsh choir. The grand finale featured all of the acts together.
The concert was certainly the highlight of the weekend but the most bizarre event was when the Pipe Major (along with a couple of Welsh guys) was declared to be A Knight of the Brotherhood of the Maroilles cheese. Four officials from the Brotherhood had made the trip from France to bestow this great honour upon the Pipe Major (who shall now be known as Sir Cheesy). Sir Cheesy was presented with a certificate and a medal (which he wore for the rest of the weekend).
Someone left a cushion behind when we got off the bus. The cushion is in the Besom (having a pint!!!) and can be collected there.

After the trip we received this message from Alwena Hughes:

Hi James

Hope you all arrived home fairly sober but I very much doubt it,

We would like to thank you once again for the part you all played in helping to make the weekend

so brilliant , it was even better than we had even imagined.

Also would you pass on our thanks to the Guards for the part they played, we hope that the choir will be able

to meet again for another performance some time again.

Keep in touch

Best Wishes
Alwena

Parade in Wrexham

Wrexham is a small village near Brymbo. It is a quiet place, with welcoming pubs and hostelries that cater to all tastes!

Evening Concert in Brymbo

The evening concert in Brymbo was a great success. Lots of hard work on practice nights paid off with the band giving a performance that was a real crowd pleaser. The whole night was entertaining and diverse; the Brymbo male voice choir were on great form, the Brigade of Guards Corps of Drums were rousing and our French guests also entertaining.

Rob Bell 'Le grande fromage'

As if to prove he is a big cheese, Rob Bell was created a Captain of the Honourable Enthusiasts for Drinking, Dancing and Rooting (CHEDDAR) and a Brother of the Order of Ancient Cheesy Komestibles (BOACK) during the evening concert we gave in Brymbo.

Welsh Tour to Brymbo

We were delighted to be invited to Brymbo by the local Male Voice Choir, who we met at the 2008 Thierache cheese festival. The trip took place over the May Bank Holiday. Lots of fun was had and good sounds created.

Cockburnspath Gala Day

The band played at Cockburnspath on 13th June for the village's Gala Day. Rain stopped play mid-afternoon, but a good band was playing well when the rain held off.

Bob at 70

Bob Lillie was 70 on 15th June. We salute you Bob!

2009 Bookings

May
1st: Trip to Wales
31st: Border Gaethrin

June
13th: Gala Day, Cockburnspath
20th: Beltane Festival, Peebles
21st: Highland Games, Hawick
26th: Trip to Bennecourt, France

July
18th: Civic Week, Kelso

August: Coldstream Civic Week
2nd: Opening Ceremony
3rd: Norham Rideout
6th: Flodden Day
7th: Torchlight Procession
8th: Fancy Dress & Beating Retreat

30th: Massed Bands, Floors Castle

November
8th: Remembrance Day

Normal service resumed

Apologies for the twelve month hiatus in updates on the activities of the band. We have now resorted to the previous management in a hope that we can keep things going with regular news, etc.

A booking list will follow shortly.

Meantine, here's a pic of the Tartan Pimpernel with some of our good friends from the Corps of Drums. You'll remember that we began our association with the Corps during the 2008 Civic Week. We took things a stage further by inviting the Corps to our visit to Wrexham over the May bank holiday. Pictures of this visit to follow.