Bad Lot

From 50 years ago in the Berwickshire News:

"WITHIN a month of being opened, the new Henderson Park has been the target for vandals, and at Tuesday’s meeting of Coldstream Town Council it was suggested the park might be put out of bounds to school children during their lunch break. Councillor W A Anderson said that children had been running over flower beds, destroying things. Councillor J M Davidson thought a ban on the use of the park by the children during their lunch break might help. Councillor I C Jack said that if this sort of action continued, they must consider taking serious action in the future."

Pipeline: BBC Radio Scotland

Sunday 18th June

The always excellent Pipeline programme on Radio Scotland (7pm every Sunday) featured Chris Waite of Chirnside on the small pipes. More to come from Chris soon as a CD of young Border pipers is due to be released.

Listen again on BBC i-player.

80th Birthday weekend

Celebrations of our 80th Birthday were a huge success; a packed Town Hall enjoyed the evening concert and we even packed the Parish Kirk on the Sunday!

Our friends from Wales, England and France thoroughly enjoyed themselves: pictures to come.

Parade of Colours; 18th June

Next engagement for the Band are the Parade of Colours on 18th June and Chirnside Gala on the 19th.

The trusty Berwickshire has covered the preparation for the Parade of Colours.

Cameron kilts...found safe and well

The missing kilts, which many of us rememebr well, have been found safe and reasonably well. As reported in the Berwickshire News.

Good news that small boys are being weighed down by heavy-duty kilts that have now been in existence almost as long as Bob Lillie!

Getting ready for our 80th Birthday

The Berwickshire News ran a short piece on the Band's preparations for the 80th Birthday weekend.

The lost Cameron kilts

Bob Lillie made the headlines in the Berwickshire back in April.

Were the kilts that were originally the band's uniform ever found?

80th Anniversary Concert

As part of the 80th anniversary celebrations, the Band is planning a concert on 28th May in the Community Centre.

Invited guests will include the Brymbo Male Voice Choir, the band from Mondrepuis in France and the Old Coldstream Core of Drums.

More news as the Concert planning develops.

Burns Day 2011

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that)
That Sense and Worth, oe'r a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

Go here for a new archive of the Bard's work

Big day out?

1931 - 2011: 80 years of being awesome

The band celebrates its 80th Birthday this year. Announcements will be forthcoming on how we will mark the occasion. We will try and keep the blog a bit more up to date is our New Year resolution.

Bennecourt (9-17 July): report from Ian Cockburn

The party boarded the Glen Valley Tours bus outside the Besom on Friday night. The group were in high spirits for the first leg of the journey with refreshments flowing freely. We were entertained with a game of bingo, organised by Johnny Fulton, for the high stakes of a pound a book. Prizes were a pound for a line, three pounds for a full house.

We boarded the ferry at Dover early on Saturday morning; then back onto the bus at Calais for the four hour drive to Bennecourt. Johnny organised a quiz to test our knowledge of France for this leg of the journey, which was won by Rannock Daly.

We arrived in Bennecourt in the early afternoon and were introduced to our hosts. After a couple of hours rest, the Pipe Band were on parade to celebrate twenty years of twinning between Coldstream and Bennecourt. We were joined on the parade by a small party of Coldstream Guards, members of the local Fire Brigade, a detachment of the Garde Republicaine (now a unit of the French police but formerly part of the French army under Napoleon and therefore adversaries of the Coldstream Guards), loads of old Rolls Royce cars and Twinning enthusiasts from Bennecourt and Coldstream.

After the parade we had a quick rehearsal with the Philharmonie de Vernon before being fed in the village hall. Then, along to the football pitch where the Coldstream Guards and the Garde Republicaine were on parade and music was provided by the Philharmonie de Vernon and the Pipe Band, culminating in a spectacular joint rendition of Highland Cathedral. So popular that we had to do an encore (again, again was the call from the French!!). We finished about 11pm on Saturday night, approximately 28 hours after leaving the Besom, pleased that Sunday was a free day.

On Monday we visited the Benedictine Palace at Fecamp and sampled the famous licquer made at the Palace. The afternoon was spent at the seaside town of Etretat on the Normandy coast.

We went to St Germaine en Laye near Paris on the Tuesday for the shopping and expensive beer. The Band played outside the town hall in St Germaine that evening for some local VIP's. We then watched the Bastille Day fireworks at the castle.

Heavy rain on Wednesday morning could have cancelled the international football match between Scotland and France.We were, however, all disappointed to find out that the match would go ahead after all. Representing France was the Bennecourt second XI. Representing Coldstream were a group of overweight middle aged men supplemented with a Coldstream Guard (codename Middlesbrough), some youngsters from Coldstream and one Frenchman for added flair. The tactical genius behind the Coldstream team was Gerald Tait. Tactics were to kick the ball into the French goal as hard as possible, known as 'netting the leather' in football circles. Such tactics clearly unnerved the French with an early goal from Middlesbrough. A further stunning goal from man of the match Logan Parsons saw Coldstream 0-2 up at half time. French tactics were to rely on the continuing heavy rain and use football boots for added grip. Such shabby trickery allowing them to close the match strongly, eventually running out 3-2 winners.

Because of the rain the planned picninc on the banks of the Seine was moved to the village hall. The rain

In Seine

Falls mainly

On your head

However, with great food, wine and music the dancing began and the rain was forgotten.

The weather was much improved for the visit to Paris on Thursday. First stop ws a cafe near the Trocadero. 18 Euro a pint!! (and we had thought St Germaine expensive). We were kindly invited to a barbecue by the two Garde Republicaine who visited Coldstream in April (see previous blog entry). They put on a splendid feast washed down with lashings of beer and malt whiskey. However, the malt vanished early in the proceedings and was only spotted much later in the handbag of one of the Twinning ladies! We then returend to the city centre and managed to get a large beer near the Eiffel Tower for only 9 Euro (a bargain!).

Friday, the final day, was a day of rest. The farewell meal was held in the Village Hall, then it was back onto the bus for the journey home. Several hours of singing passed the time until Calais. The ferry sailed at 4.30am with many of the party devastated to find Duty Free closed - they should have bought their gifts in France. After some sleep on the bus, Johnny Fulton produced another quiz. A Scottish one this time, again won by Rannock. It appears that most of us know more about France than we do about Scotland.

We arrived back in Coldstream on Saturday afternoon tired, happy anbd glad to be home.

Bennecourt 4

Bennecourt 3

Bennecourt 2

chirnside 2010_mpeg2video.mpg

A video from YouTube of the Band at Chirnside.

Bennecourt, Ille de France 9th to 17th July

In no particular order here are some images from this years trip to Bennecourt;

Peebles Beltane Festival, 26th June

Peebles Beltane Week has occured annually since 1897 and this year ran from 20-26th June; rumours that Bob Lillie played at the first festival are, of course, true.

As has 'aye been', we played at the Fancy Dress Parade on Saturday 26th. Following on from Chirnside, another strong band of eight pipers, four sides, two tenor, bass and Drum Major played well.

Pictures and video below:

Chirnside Civic Week: 20 June

A beautiful summers day saw us at Chirnside for the crowning of the Chirnside Queen and the beginning of Chirnside's Civic Week.

A good band of eight pipers, four sides, tenor, bass and Drum Major made a solid sound. More to come in a few weeks at Kelso Civic Week, meantime more practice nights in the School Hall.

Chirnside is the home of legendary motor racing driver and Scottish sporting hero, Jim Clark and any number of philosophers, many of whom can be found in the bar of the Red Lion; but perhaps best known amongst them is David Hume.

Two young drummers

Gordon Thompson sends this picture of Michael Hickman (left) and Richard Spence (right). Gordon comments that Mike Hickman went on to be Drum Major in 1st KOSB and still lives in Leet Street, while Richard Spence is Marion Marjoribanks brother.