fter the disappointment felt by the whole band for missing the worlds, it was a great relief that we got the numbers to compete at Cowal. The band only managed to compete due to the hard work and dedication of our newest side drummer Amy. Her hard work in learning a selection in such a short space of time and her calmness in competing in her first competition was an amazing achievement and on behalf of the band we thank you.

Deciding to leave on the Friday instead of the Saturday for Cowal, the band knew two things,
1: Alcohol would not be in abundance on the trip down
2: The band would be refreshed for the competition.
The band got up at 6 am for a much hyped and anticipated scrambled eggs cook off between the Pipe Sergeant and the Pipe Corporal. With the latter being a chef the bookies favourite seemed to be a foregone conclusion. While Robert slaved over a hot stove, Neil waited with quiet confidence and at the right moment walked straight up to…. The microwave. As the band tucked into Neil’s very nice microed scrambled eggs, Robert was still stirring (having already had to change pots due to a mild burning). The band finished breakfast just as the chefs eggs were presented with a slight charred biryani look and taste to which he exclaimed:

“I am a chef, I cannot cook with inferior utensils!”

The band got into Dunoon in good time and prepared to march up the street, the pipers tuned drones, the sides set their drums and the bass core sewed buttons back onto their jackets (well the tenors did, the bass drummer, being a bloke, let a female piper do his). The march up the street went well and the weather remained fine, a little bit of mis-communication meant an interesting end to Kelseys Wee Reel, but set the band up with good humour.

Unfortunately the weather was not to last and as the band made preparations for final tuning the heavens opened and the band lost ½ an hour sheltering in the beer tent. However, never one to stare defeat in the eye the pipe core decided to strike up and do their final tuning in the beer tent, much to the surprise of some customers.

On the way to the circle the band received some positive comments from the crown which set us up nicely, and gave the band the confidence to go in with its best attack of the year. A few minor bloopers during the set was not enough to take the smile off the faces of the band who were over the moon afterward. The performance warranted 10th out of 18 and showed considerable improvement over a season with mixed fortunes.

The march back down the street, may have been wet but none of the band was feeling the cold, with most of them wearing Rastafarian or schoolgirl wigs. There was also a few surprise guest appearances in the parade back, David Welsh of Shotts (formerly a Deeside Piper) temporarily rejoined the ranks, while Elvis took the Base Drum and Harry Potter took over the pipe major duties. The unwanted drunk visitor was also very well dealt with by our human shield consisting of Bauf’s family!

The bus home was an entertaining affair. As is radio was broken, the Deeside Barbershop quartet was formed (although it possibly consisted of 5 or 6 members only 4 could actually still sing). However, after an hour and a half of waiting to get on the ferry and across on to the mainland, the quartet retired for the evening and a very good night ensued.