| aughintober, northern ireland

When a competition band goes out on parade, as happens in Aughintober ever 12th and 13th, it is generally assumed that players look after their instruments. This is important for many reasons, but mainly because when the band goes back into the Competition arena - you want your instrument in tip-top condition.

This used to be especially the case with Clifford, our old bass drummer. So worried that something would happen to his beloved Bass, our Cliff would shelve the competition model and opt for one of the old ones in the hall. Sure it was heavier, and didn't sound as sweet - but it was the safe option. Infact, I noticed that Clifford has renewed this tradition with Ballybriest, seeing him out with their old bass on the 12th!

Now, enter out Bass Drummers from the 12th (Kyle) and 13th (Turkey). So enthuastic they were to be on parade, they decided that it was only right to let the lovely people see our shiney new bass head...fair enough you might say! But ontop of that, our entrepid lads decided to let the people hear it! Difficult, you might think with fluffy sticks, but the lads didn't let that hold them back, laying into it with the vigor of only the very best of Flute Band Bass Drummers...where as John McFetridge was on the sidelines shaking his head, and cringing at all the work he'd have to do to get it back in tune, Michael Brown, of the Michael Brown School of Bass Drumming was proud of his two new prodigy's...and to be fair so where we!

On a more serious note, lots of fun was had on parade, and best of all, everyone (includeing the bass heads) survived!

Although the Pipers did suffer a defeat to the Drummers in Thursday's Laser Quazer - Personally I blame Harry Potter.

James Gore (England), Kevin Rodgers (Ireland) Andrea Boyd (Canada),
Jonathan Greenlees (Northern Ireland), Gordon McCready (Scotland),
Donald McPhee (United States of America) and M.C. Glenn Ferry (Aughintober Pipe Band)

The first, ‘Invitational Piping in the Park’ solocompetition took place on Saturday night 14 May 2011 in DungannonPark, following the Co.Tyrone Championships

The event, organised by Grade 2 pipe band, Aughintober witnessed sixpipers from across the world competing against each other to claimthe title and bragging rights for the evening.

The event had an unusual twist to it, in addition to the MSR competitionelement, competitors had a free reign for 20 mins to entertain thecrowd .

With two titles up for grabs, best overall piping performance and mostentertaining player, the competition was hot.

The pipers included Andrea Boyd (Canada), Jonathan Greenlees (NorthernIreland), Gordon McCready (Scotland), Kevin Rogers (Ireland), JamesGore (England), and Donald MacPhee (USA).

The judges for the evening, were two former All-Ireland Senior Solo Champions, Gary Watterson (Aughintober) and David Caldwell (ScottishPower). The judges

Kevin Rogers of (SLOT / Ireland) opened the event and delivered a foottapping performance as expected. He was joined on stage by Ronan Rogers (dressed in a pair of ‘Bay City Roller’ tribute trousers) and his cajon box to finish with a big set of irish reels and jigs,that set the tone for evening.

Jonathan Greenlees (FMM / N.Ireland) playing on home turf should have felt acertain amount of pressure but no. Having just returned from the Dr Dan Reid Memorial competition in Canada, he played a rich variety ofthe old and new and dropped in some tunes made famous by his band.

Gordon McCready (FMM / Scotland) entered the marquee proudly wearing the Scottish Rugby jersey, and did his country proud. Gordon picked upbest MSR playing The Knightswood Ceildh, Caber Feidh, John Morrison of Assynt House. Gordon played ona beautiful bagpipe and backed up his great technical ability with a box of entertaining tricks and tunes that had the judges awarding him ‘International Piping in the Park’ champion

Andrea Boyd (SLOT / Canada), the only female competitor of the evening played a huge range of material that reflected the event and her piping credentials. Irish, Scottish & Breton music all flowed from the hands of this talented Nova Scotian.

James Gore (FMM / England), the youngest competitor of the evening freshfrom his debut with the FMMPB a few hours earlier, used the inspiration of a custom made St.George’s flag bagpipe cover to remind the audience that he was English! James finished off the evening with a mix of his own compositions interlaced with Gordon Duncan tunes. It was an impressive performance by the young Englishman who finished 2nd behind Gordon McCready

Donald MacPhee (FMM / USA) brought his A-game to the stage on the entertainment front wearing cowboy boots, a texan football jersey, 3 american flags and a baseball hat. Donald certainly was a proud American! Needless to say this successful reedmaker and piper delivered a brilliant 20 minutes of entertainment and was the crowd favourite; Donald leaving the marquee in a tunnel of high 5’s,chants of USA, USA and the huge Best Entertainer Trophy

This was a fantastic night and enjoyed by all who attended so watch this space in 2012 for the follow up event.

Aughintober Pipe Band would like to sincerely thank those who supported the event and players who made it so enjoyable. A big Thank You to Pipes Drums for inspiring the idea!

For more information and more photos from the event please go to www.aughintoberpipeband.com website or why not visit our Facebook page.

    

Well! I, like much of the band have just come down a varnish-fume-infused high obtained legally at band practice last night. Whos ever the idea was to have the hall varnished on a monday, before band practice, we would just like to say THANK YOU!

Now, for those of you who attended the 'Night at the Races' on Saturday night, or who sold, bought or sponsored our horses/races, the band owes you a huge debt of gratidude. You helped us raise a massive £1,600 for band funds! From what we are told, everyone had a fantastic night - and even won a little money too!

So you're all probably wondering about the pictures above.This was an idea I had while high at band practice last night! It seems that more than band members want to fill out our famous 'Player Profile' sheets, so I thought we'd give them a go at it! So i'd like to introduce you to our first 2 ambassadors

Canada - Melvin Ferry (Aughintober Pipe Band)
Scotland - Robbie Crow (Denny & Dunipace)

Of course, their profile's won't be released until the player profies nearer the start of the season, but I thought i'd let you take a peek at who we've got so far! So if you'd like to take part in the ambassadorship programme, please email ashleyhassin@gmail.com with your name, and what country you'd like to represent the band in! (Real or Made-up!).

SO, as you all know, we in TeamAPB like to come up with little games to keep ourselves amused outside the Pipe Band arena, so we have a brand new one for you guys to take part in! Celebrity Tie Spotting is just what it sounds - if you see a Celeb (A-Z list!) wearing what appears to be mighty APB tie, give us a shout, and we'll add it to the website! So, to kick us off:

Jim Wells, MLA
As Spotted by: The Guest Writer

Jim was spotted in a report on BBC Newsline a few nights ago wearing APB Colours, but a look into his past reveals many pictures of him sporting the same look, making him a worthy first entrant to the 'Tie Spotting' feature!

Well done Jim, you've got our Vote!

that's right folks, for the first time in band history (as far as i'm aware), aughintober will be playing the Ulster Hall, Belfast on Tuesday! (23rd Nov 2010). We will be only one of a number of bands playing on the night, in the Newsletter's 'Festival of Marching Bands', which looks to be a good night all round! (especially since my boss just said I can definately have it off work!)

As well as this, another momentus ocassion is taking place on the night. Now, you know us - not ones for making a fuss, or using bad language but on this ocassion we'll make an exception. Band members have said various things about it, such as:

"I thought i'd walked into a 78th's practice"

and

"Man, I could stare at that all night!"

But it is this. On Tuesday 23rd November 2010, in the Ulster Hall, Belfast Aughintoer Pipe Band will be unveiling certinly what we think is one of the sexiest bass heads in the country....certinly the sexiest on in Aughintober Hall!

The Royal British Legion is trying to get a 'silent single' into the top 40 of the charts on Rememberance Sunday...somthing the band would like to promote. All you have to do is visit http://www.silentsingle.com/ and buy the single - it's only a quid!

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

The members of Team APB would like to congratulate Drummer Andy Young, and his wife Andrea on the birth of their son, Ethan! He was born on Sunday [5th Sept], at 3.05pm. and weighed seven pounds eleven and a half.

In the words of his proud father: "hes class"

The 13th is a generally fantastic day. YES everybody in the band moans about the parading (which we all secretly love, by the way), about sore feet, and about being tired - but all that, my friends is much MUCH better than being stuck in work on Scarva day, when you know everyone else in the band is out having fun without you!

With only my left-over BBQ at dinner time to look forward to, at 6.30am I arose, knowing that some band members were doing the same, except instead of my usual jeans and shirt work combo, they would be donning the battle colours of the mighty ABP (yes Glenn - it's music, not war but humour me for website pruposes!). So instead of setting off to Ahorey Hall to meet the fella's from the Lilly of the Valley (and to see if Turkey would survive this year), I headed for the Ulster Herald in Omagh to sit at my desk (as seen above) and drink coffee, thinking of the fond memories of our first year, spent in the Free-Presbyterian tent drinking tea, and sheltering ourselves from the rain!

So I shall leave it to Gail to tell you of the exploits of Scarva 2010...As for my Scarva 2010 - it was warm (then cold cause of the air-con), there was a lot of sitting down, and not nearly enough pipe bands!

On a side note - since the China Trip has been cancelled (for july anyway - cross your fingers and toes for October people!) the APB will in fact be attending Newcastle - so see us there!

New Brogues - a big day in the life of any Piper, Drummer, or Drum Major, for that matter. It generally can go two ways (as with much in this life). Either they're super-confortable, or cut the feet off you! Since there was no blood on Glenn's socks, I guess he got the good side of it! Although, with Brogues made out of used tyres, you'd hope they were comfortable!

So, with glenn in his (not so) shiney new shoes, and Ruth & Gail claiming 'Girl Power' in the back row (they actually did turn up dressed as the spice girls), we set off for Cookstown! Well, I didn't, cause I live in Cookstown and was unwilling to Travel to Aughintober, to Travel to Cookstown, to Travel to Aughintober, to Travel to Cookstown!

So once again, with the pipes singing (always happens on parade for some reason!) we sauntered out of the assembly field and onto the main street. For those of you unfamiliar with Cookstown, it's main street, is not only one of the widest, but also one of the longest in Ireland (coming in at around 1.25 miles), so it takes a fair bit of stamina to play the whole way! Thankfully for the band, Pipe Major Jason was no longer in charge, so it wasn't 3 6/8's followed by 3 Hornpipes, followed by dear knows what, leaving the band contemplating a military-style (bloodless, but none the less effective) coup. To PM Glenn Ferry it was, with plenty of breaks, plenty of chat, and a bit of craic to be had in there as well - we even got a few Drum Salutes which was a nice change!

Cookstown, being in the townland of Cookstown, in the District of Cookstown, in the County of Tyrone, in well, Northern Ireland (obviously) dosn't have many cows (on the main street anyway), so instead of our usual audience of Farmer Joe's Frezian Cattle (See http://www.aughintoberpipeband.com/apps/blog/show/3049318-the-tour-endith- if you've forgotten!), we were forced to play for human beings - the nice change being they react to your tunes! I certinly saw disappointment mixed with pride in my own mother's face as we marched past playing Jesus Loves Me! (This is a long running arguement with my mother, who dosn't think hymn tunes should be let loose near bagpipes - but perfers a nice hornpipe instead - go figure!), and my nephew Finn sound asleep!

Anyway - with the 'Girl Power' back row ready to collapse (that's right girls, the real athletes go in the front!), we reached the demonstration field (again, no cows, only people!) to relax, refresh and get ready for the return journey. I wasn't about (Uncle Duties), but from what I'm told, everyone re-stocked vital sugars at the Fosters van, and was super hyper for the return leg!

So once again everyone survived the 12th, and as for the 13th - we'll find out tomorrow! I'm stuck in work on the 13th (today), so once again we will be relying on the wit of Gail to report on the happenings of the day, and i'm told the Guest Writer might even pop in for a natter!

Happy 12th everyone!

That's right. Pictured above are our six aughintober ladies, just a few of the THOUSANDS of grieving women today, because that's right ladies and gentlemen - MELVIN FERRY IS MARRIED! As correctly predicted here yesterday, Melvin and Anna tied the knot around lunch time yesterday, and then strutted their stuff (well Anna did, Mel pretty much stood about talking!) around the dance floor!

So, with the APB wedding of the year (2010) not officially over, that begs the question - which bandsman will get married next?! Don't forget to vote in the new poll! (to your right!)

See u all on the 12th in Cookstown!