Culter Pipe Bands

AT the end of August, a busy competition season came to an end at the C o w a 1 Gathering, where the Culter and District band finished just outside the prizes in 7th place. This came only a few weeks after picking up 5th place in the British Championship at Tain where the drum corps finished in 2nd place.

The highlight of the weekend at Cowal was the bands parading up and down the High Street. Marching up at lunchtime was something but coming back down after the prize giving with the crowd 10 deep on both sides of the road was an unbelievable experience.

This year has seen an improvement in playing and performance by the 47th Culter BB Novice Band (average age 13.5) thanks to the hard work and dedication of Pipe Major Mike Reid, leading drummer Trevor Crighton, Gordon Duncan, Andrew Fraser and all the other tutors who give freely of their time to instruct the youngsters in the art of piping and drumming.

Locally the bands took part in the "Wallace 700" March on Union Street and have entertained a delegation from Malawi as well as wedding guests at Maryculter House and Meldrum House.

We were sorry to disappoint a lot of residents by not marching through the village in September; we had to cancel at the last minute because we hadn't obtained the necessary permissions from Aberdeen City Council.

With the dark nights here, the band members, parents arid supporters are busy fund raising in the run up to Christmas with raffles, race night, bag packing, charity shop and a stall on Union Street keeping everyone busy.