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Pipe Bands’ Association of Southern Africa Johannesburg - South Africa
Benoni Mac-Talla Pipe Band wins Grade 3B (Worlds 2009) A huge congratulations goes out to Benoni for being the first South African pipe band to win a world championship. Benoni won the overall title for grade 3B, 2009. Again, well done!!! To view Benoni in action on YouTube, click on this link. . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUmdAHAH9uQ
The Jocks win SA champs and champion of champions 2009 Well done to the Transvaal Scottish for winning a hotly contested 2009 season as well as the SA champs 2009.
Old news ________________________________________________________ Travelers The PBA would like to wish all those travelling to compete or perform overseas the very best of luck. After the close of our local season, Benoni Mac-Talla will be travelling to Scotland to compete in the world champs in grade 3b as well as the North Berwick and Perth gatherings. They leave on the 3rd August and we wish them all the best. We will post the results on this site as soon as they become available. Details of their draws and results can also be followed here. The Transvaal Scottish leave on the 25th August to participate in the Libyan Tattoo. Just goes to show that bagpipes take you places, we would like to wish them a safe and fun filled journey. To all those other individuals travelling, we wish you too, a very safe and fruitful journey.
African Skye “A” win their first grade 2 title. And they chose no less than the South Coast gathering in Toti to do it. Well done to Sean and Steve and the rest of the Skye team, it’s a good win and you deserve to be rewarded for your hard work, we shall watch with interest as the rest of the season unfolds.
Correction: Results of Jeppe gathering Apologies to the members of the Richmond Avenue and Transvaal Scottish pipe bands for the incorrect announcement at the prize giving on Saturday where Richmond Avenue were declared the Champion Grade 2 band of the gathering. Transvaal Scottish were the rightful Champion Grade 2 band on the day but the error, unfortunately, was only discovered after the prize giving was over.
African Skye Solos were a success. The African Skye pipe band hosted another great solo event with international judge Bob Worrall. The event took place on Saturday 7th March at the Jeppe school for girls in Johannesburg. Graced with beautiful Johannesburg weather the day went off without a hitch. Thanks to Rory and his boys for putting on a great day. And thanks of course to Bob, you are always welcome in sunny South Africa. It would be great to see some international solo players making there way out here for future events such as this. . .
Ian Houston appointed as president of the PBA 2009 The new PBA committee appointed for 2009 will be led by Ian Houston with Rory staying on as secretary. The rest of the committee is made up of Steve Johnston, Donald Graham and Alasdair Watt as treasurer.
1 Medical Battalion promoted to grade 2 1 Medical Battalion pipe band has been promoted to grade 2 after an appeal from their PM Tom Fuller. Although originally declined, Tom went back to the grading committee on appeal and had the decision overturned. It’s good to see that the system works and that there are open minded and approachable leaders in our fraternity. The rest of grade 2 is made up of African Skye, Richmond Ave, The Transvaal Scottish and Benoni Mac-Talla. We shall watch with interest to see how the 2009 season unfolds.
Roy Blevins donates 30 piping books to the PBA Roy Blevins donates 30 piping books and some old consumables to the PBA for use in the community. If anyone would like to make use of these books please feel free to contact any of the committee members. A huge thanks to Roy for his donation.
A Plea for Trophies Anyone with trophies or information on the whereabouts of trophies is asked to contact any of the committee members. Trophies can also be handed in at the judges tent at any of the gatherings, no questions will be asked.
Proposal for new juvenile tune requirements Background There are concerns within the fraternity that Novice Juvenile bands are not progressing to the Juvenile grade with the current system that is in place. One of the reasons for this is the change in tune requirements from the Novice Juvenile grade to the Juvenile grade. Proposal Novice Juvenile March Selection The Novice Juvenile March Selection remains as is. This has proved very successful in getting players, and bands, into the competition arena.
Novice Juvenile MSR and Juvenile MSR These two events to be combined into one event with the following rules : A Novice Juvenile band may submit two 2-parted marches or one 4-parted march; two 2-parted strathspeys or one 4-parted strathspey and; two 2-parted reels or one 4-parted reel. A Juvenile band may only submit one 4-parted march, one 4-parted strathspey and, one 4-parted reel.
The motivations behind this are as follows : Any Novice Juvenile band with the potential to play a bigger MSR now has the platform to do so. Novice Juvenile bands now have a transition opportunity to prepare themselves for the Juvenile grade. The Grading Committee has a very real event to assess a Novice Juvenile band’s performance with respect to the existing Juvenile bands. Bands shall still receive prizes and points based on their official registered PBASA grading.
Juvenile Selection The Juvenile Selection remains as is.
Conclusion Although this proposal may solve the musical standards problem, the numbers problem still remains. |
