| aughintober, northern ireland

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.