East Lothian Courier | News | Tuning up for Summer

Tuesday, 6th January, 2009

Published: Thursday, 22nd May, 2008 08:00

Tuning up for Summer

HADDINGTON Pipe Band is gearing up for another busy summer, with a return visit to play at French twin town Aubigny, a high point of their seasonal agenda.

While in France, the band will play at a series of parades and events associated with the Comice Agricole, a huge annual agricultural festival which is hosted in turn by seven towns in the Cher area.

Up to 20 band members, plus many family and friends, will be making the trip at the start of July, which provides an opportunity to renew the strong friendships between the towns and to reinforce the Auld Alliance.

The current band first visited Aubigny in 1989 and has been paying regular visits there ever since. Last year, it played over a four-day period during Aubigny’s annual Franco-Scottish festival.

In addition to performing at galas and other events around the county, the band will feature in the Beating Retreat ceremony in Haddington’s High Street on June 1 to mark the 40th year of the Haddington Festival. More than 60 pipers and drummers, including visiting bands from other county towns, will be involved in what should be a great spectacle.

The band has also been invited to perform three Beating Retreats during June at Scone Palace.

And later in the summer, it will perform at the Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade.

“We have been working hard to prepare the band for the summer ahead,” said Pipe Major David Leckie.

“Going back to Aubigny is always a special occasion for us and with the Beating Retreat in the High Street on June 1 and the other events on our schedule, the next few months seem to be full of highlights.”

Fundraising for the band’s activities in the community continues tonight (Friday) with a dance held in conjunction with the Riding for the Disabled Association in the Corn Exchange.

Tickets available from John McMillan (01620 822992), Ian Fairgrieve (01875 340582) or Anderson Butchers, East Linton (01620 860232).

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