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. 

Installation of Coldstreamer 2013

The Installation of the Coldstreamer on Friday the 12th of April 2013 was the first of the Band's under the leadership of PM Duncan Bell.

The band's Liam Wallis was sworn in as Left Hand Man and will therefore be Coldstreamer next year.

A good band was out on a chilly evening. The Berwickshire News covered the event.

March 2013 Concert

This years concert was a great success and a big night for the Band and the Bell family, Rob, Elspeth and Duncan in particular.

The Concert was Rob's last gig as Pipe Major. This follows a lifetime's service to the Band and to the Town and Rob was rightly praised for this unstinting service. Gordon presented Rob with a crystal decanter and glasses from the Pipe Band, which without a doubt will be put to good use. 

Duncan has agreed to take over from Rob as Pipe Major and everyone wishes him all success. 

Elspeth was also honoured on the night as she was presented with the Brown Scott Quaich as the town’s citizen of the year by Martin Brimms of the Community Council.

As they always do, the Town supported the Band and the concert was very well attended, with £1239.40 made in support of band funds. 

Here is a link to an article in the Berwickshire News

 

Pipers persuasion

A strange name for a website is Pipers' Persuasion; but an excellent resource nonetheless. A retired policeman and former member of the great Strathclyde Police Pipe Band in its heyday, Allan Hamilton has managed to interview many of the greatest and most influential people in piping.

His manner might be that of a policeman interviewing a suspect, but he gets information that's both interesting and useful. The interview with Richard Parkes of the Field Marshall is very interesting indeed.

Check it out: Pipers' Persuasion

Civic Week rideout 196?

Another in the excellent series of photographs unearthed by Ian.

Can you date this rideout coming down Duns Road and passing the Rutherfords' buildings?

Quiz of the week completely answered

James provides the answers:



The year is 1966 when Isaac Ford was Coldstreamer.

The Drum Major was Pete Loch.
Front row is: Jimmy Thomson, Rob Bell, Bob Lillie.
Second row: Stuart Tait, Eddie Cunningham.
Third row: Clark Ledgerwood on tenor, Dave Douglas on bass.
Back row was Dave Smail the lead drummer and Kit Loch on side drum.

And the polis was Dave Douglas's fither.

Pipey Bell reckons the car in question is a Vauxhall Victor.

2012 Civic Week - on video

Here is a you tube link for a video of the Flodden ride out during Civic Week last year. With thanks to the creator of the video. http://youtu.be/Oybxv2krXxY

Diary dates

The Pipe Band AGM will be held at the Primary School on Monday 28th of January 8pm

Stovie supper and concert 9th March 2013

Pipe Band pictures

Just for your information, all the pictures of the Band are available at the online picture sharing site, Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/coldstreampipeband/

This is a very good way for us to ensure our photos get out to as wide an audience as possible.

Quiz of the week

32, a photo by coldstreampipeband on Flickr.

Here is another undated picture of the Band at Civic Week.

Good to see that utility companies have always been patching the road!

Some familiar faces here; anyone identify the people and year? Bonus point for name and number of the policeman. And a further point for make and model of car behind Bob Lillie.

Civic Week 1968 (the mystery solved)

Civic Week 1966, a photo by coldstreampipeband on Flickr.

Gordon thought the photo last week was from 1966 but James thinks it is 1968 (Dave Smail on the side drum. Colin Forsyth on tenor Barry Gold Coldstreamer, W Moore left hand man, Dave Young Right Hand Man. Noticed a very young Billy Rutherford on side drum as well).

Flodden 1513 project funding boost

Next year will be a bigger one than normal for the Band because 2013 marks the 500th anniversary of the battle of Flodden.

This week news was announced of a £900,000 injection of support from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards a project that will add to understanding and awareness of the events of 1513, more information on the project can be found here.

The BBC carried a report on the funding award here.

Next engagement: Armistice Sunday 11-11-12

This year Arimistice Sunday falls on the 11-11 and is our next engagement. Details to follow.

More information on the names on the Memorial can be found at the local history society.

Memorial 2006

Inauguration 1921

Pipe Band-athon 2012

The Coldstream Pipe band Pipe-athon on Saturday 20th October was a great success. We collected £427.06 in the collecting tins on the day. With sponsor money still to come in this looks like it has been a very worth while exrcise. Thanks to everyone who took part. 

Thanks also To Elspeth Bell, Carol Cockburn, David Guthrie and Wendy Guthrie for carying the collecting tins. We would also like to thank the Castle Hotel for providing the ie, beans and chips to the participants free of charge (We were definately ready for them).

Coldstream Pipe band would also like to thank all of the people who kindly donated.