News

Bucksburn & District Novice/Juvenile hit the ground running by winning the outdoor season opener at Dunbar.

Competing in a strong field of 10 N/J bands, the "Wee Band" were awarded 1st in Piping by adjudicator John Wilson, and 3rd in Drumming by Jimmy Hutton to achieve first place overall. Second place was awarded to Boghall & Bathgate, and 3rd to George Watson's College N/J who won the Drum Corps prize.

This achievement is made even more outstanding by the fact that 5 of the band had never competed before, well done!

The band also played up into the Juvenile grade, competing for the first time with an MSR of Hugh Kennedy, Captain Colin Campbell & Lexy McAskill. While they didn't make the prize list, both adjudicators gave good crit sheets and commented on the great potential for this group.

Band President Gus McAskill said "Congratulations to you all for a very successful day yesterday. 1st in your own grade and 4th in the Juvenile grade is a great result for the band. Well done to you all."

The Junior Band are hosting a fundraising ceilidh on Friday 4th April at the Ashdale Hall in Westhill.

The dance band will Garioch Blend, and as always the band will provide entertainment including some of the sets performed at the recent NYPBoS Concert.

Tickets cost £8.00 for adults and £6.00 concessions and are available by entering your details on the Contact Form. Please come support the band, we look forward to seeing you there!

The band took to the floor at the North of Scotland Mini Bands at St Machar Academy, Aberdeen and picked up prizes in each grade.

The Novice/Juvenile band took away the Best Novice band, Best Novice Drum Corps, and also 2nd in Grade 4 prizes. Playing up into Grade 3 they picked up 2nd and 3rd places behind Kirkwall City.

The Senior band took 1st prize in Grade 2, and also the Drum Corps prize. Playing up into Grade One the band took 2nd behind Grampian Police, but again took the Premier Percussion Shield for best drum corps.

Bucksburn & District N/J Pipe Band performed alongside the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland (NYPBoS) and Superfragilistic in a superb sell-out concert at Aberdeen Arts Centre.

All three groups played a blinder, and the members of the band would like to thank John and Anne Sharpe, Paul Warren, the National Piping Centre and NYPBoS for pulling the event together.

The highlight for most was throwing together the finale set with both Pipe Bands on stage playing the classic jigs Glasgow City Police Pipers and The Curlew to a rapturous standing ovation.

Media clips from the concert can be found in Multimedia section of the website.

Aberdeen & District Piping Society are please to announce a Piping Recital by Angus MacColl. Taking place at the Cults Hotel on Thursday 13th March at 7.30pm, tickets cost £9.00 and students go free!

This is a great chance to see one of very best Solo Pipers on the boards right now.

Contact Alistair Skene (01224 313935) or Robert Thomson (01224 314806) for further information.

The Junior Band take to the stage this weekend alongside the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland and Superceilidhfragilistic - with seats for the gig now sold out!

On their second visit to Aberdeen, NYPBoS is run from the National Piping Centre, and is composed entriely of under 18s drawn from across the country. They always put on a great show and are sure to provide some new and refreshing ideas!

Superceilidhfragilistic are a local ceilidh group, made up of students from RGU. They are sure to get toes tapping as they open the concert.

The Junior band have put a huge amount of work into this show, and will be playing a number of brand new sets for the first time, playing a mix of traditional and modern tunes, from the pipe band genre or not!

The Novice/Juvenile band kicked off 2008 by taking part in the local Piping Quartets. 3 groups were entered in the Grade 4 contest, playing the 2/4 Marches Greenwoodside, Drunken Piper, I'll Gang Nae Mair Tae yon Toon and Sweet Maid of Glendaruel.

Band 'B' led by P/M Ian Dallas took 5th, Band 'C' led by Calum Forsyth 9th, and Band 'A' led by Asst P/M Nicole Niven 14th out of 26 bands.

Two groups were entered to the Grade 3 contest to try their skills at a March, Strathspey & Reel for the first time. Led my P/M Ian Dallas, the quartets took 7th and 8th out of 11. The set played by both groups was Hugh Kennedy, Captain Colin Campbell and Lexy McAskill.

Well done to all the pipers - some taking part in their first band contest and some trying out new skills. Thanks also to the usual group of parents who continually support us on all the necessary events.

Our dear friend and life member Roddy McDonald passed away suddenly on Monday 19th having had an aneurysm in the morning then passing away peacefully in the early afternoon.

Roddy will be a major loss to all his family and friends and our deepest thoughts and sympathy go out to Kathleen, Lyndsey, Craig and all their family at this sad time.

His enthusiasm, commitment, kindness, generosity and love for everything and everyone associated with the Bucksburn & District Pipe Band, Aberdeen of which he was such a big part, will be greatly missed by all who knew him.   The McDonald’s considered “The Band” to be an integral part of their extended family and wholeheartedly supported us in every way they could. Rod’s heart will forever be with “The Boxy Band” and many of us have lost a dear and trusted friend.

As an organisation dedicated to teaching “young” up and coming Pipe Band players, be it in Piping or Drumming, Bucksburn and District Pipe Band want to take it’s organisation to another level and are in the process of recruiting players for a Grade 3 Band, offering you the chance to play at a very high standard within a very established organisation within the Pipe Band world.

If you are a Piper or Drummer looking for a great challenge within Bucksburn and District Pipe Band, and would like the opportunity to play at a grade 3 standard, you are the person we are looking for. Please pass on your contact details to me via email gus.mcaskill@bucksburnpipeband.com or phone me on 07957411160. Please don’t be the one who thinks you don’t have the talent to do this. If you don’t try, you will never know!!!

Bucksburn and District Pipe Band Aberdeen - “Dedicated to developing youth through Music”

Gus McAskill
President

As the band nears it's 60th birthday, we are pleased to announce that a celebratory dinner and dance has been organised for the 3rd of November 2007 at the Hilton Tree Tops, Aberdeen. It promises to be an entertaining evening with performances by the current incarnations of both the Grade 2 and Novice Juvenile bands, alongside a good old-fashioned ceilidh.