The Flooers O' The Forest

Greentrax, the highly respected folk music label, are soon to release a specially produced compilation album of song and poetry remembering the battle of Flodden 1513. The CD features the best of Scottish talent, Karine Polwart, Dick Gaughan, Gary West on pipes and our own Rob Bell with his composition: The Flodden Ride. Great to see Dick and Karine on the same recording as Rob.

This year is, of course, the 500th anniversary of this pivotal moment in the relationship between Scotland and England and its effect on the Borders.

Peebles 2013

A great summers day at the culmination of the Peebles Beltane Festival, which includes the always excellent fancy dress parade. Cracking weather, no rain.

Peebles Beltane festival: 22 June

We leave Coldstream at 8:45am on Saturday, the band is as follows:

Pipers: Duncan, Keith, Rob, Gordon, Sam, Jamie, John.
Drummers: Ian, Chris, Peter, Chloe, Alex, James.

 

 

Chirnside Gala Day

First gig of the summer season was the annual trip across the Merse to Chirnside for the Gala Day.

Warm and sunny weather meant for a good day out with seven pipers, bass, tenor and two sides making a good sound. More photos to follow.

Next up is Peebles on Saturday - details to follow.

The BBC has produced a handy guide to Common Ridings with Coldstream featuring.

Karnaval de Kulture (2)

More evidence of the dreadful conditions endured by James and Pete during their trip to the Black Kilts in Berlin.

Karnaval de Kulture in Berlin

In May James and Pete visited our good friends the Black Kilts of Berlin (pic from 2012) to provide some instruction and play at the annual Karnaval de Kulture, which was held on 19th May.

The Karnaval is a street parade and acts as an annual celebration of the many and diverse cultures living in Berlin.

The Karnaval looks like a lot of fun, though James reports that he and Pete had an awful time.

Drumming on t'internet

Following a deluge of requests from Alex, we at Blog HQ have selected a number of online drumming resources for the rear ranks, we hope they're useful, as follows;

http://www.jimkilpatrick.co.uk

http://www.scottishpipebanddrumming.com

http://www.scottniven.co.uk

http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/38287.html

PM Bell on the Western Front

Rob features in the current Berwickshire News; covering a trip he made with friends to the battlefields of Northen France to trace and pay respects to local men who never returned.

Rob played the lament 'Flooers o' the Forest' at the Menin Gate near Ypres, picture.

PM Bill Robertson

We've discovered a new piping website that features instructional video's by Bill Robertson, formerly Pipe Major of the Royal Scots.

It's an excellent resource for pipers because Bill takes you through a series of logical steps to learn to play a variety of tunes, he adds one a month, with the emphasis on traditional, straightforward, band tunes.

Well worth a visit, particularly at a time when the new Pipey is putting us through our paces on our existing sets.