The World Pipe Band Championships, held every August in Glasgow, is highly competitive. Winning it is prestigious amongst pipe bands, and is a culmination of a year’s worth of preparation and rehearsal. This year, the championships will be held on Saturday 13th August in Glasgow Green.
Pipe bands are a long-standing tradition in Scotland and areas with Celtic roots. They consist of pipers (or for the uninitiated, those who play the great Scottish instrument the ‘bagpipes’) and drummers. The band follows the direction of the pipe major, who directs with a mace. Typically, a pipe band will have 6 to 25 pipers, 3 to 10 side drummers (those that play snare drums), 1 to 6 tenor drummers, and 1 bass drummer.
The first World Pipe Championships was held in 1930, when the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association was formed. A huge part of the championships, for many years, has been the other events that go on simultaneous, making it a great day for the whole family. The Glasgow World Highland Games, which feature the best Scottish athletes competing in the caber toss, shot put, and the hammer, and the Highland Dancing Championships, which feature the best highland dancers in competitive heats, both occur throughout the day.
There’ll also be great food at Flavour of Scotland, the event’s food theatre, which will feature the best Scottish chefs, a traditional Scottish food market, and real ale and whisky bars. There’ll be kids and youth areas that will entertain the youngest ones with outdoor fun, scientific fun, arts and crafts, and face painting. A wide selection of traders around the Green will sell Pipe and Drums merchandise, home-made confectionery, and traditional Scottish souvenirs. The craft fair will again be held in the Winter Gardens, and the popular main bar will remain in its position at the top of the Green.
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