A Happy New Year to You All

April 2000 PIPERS’ and PIPE BAND SOCIETY of ONTARIO, OTTAWA BRANCH

President: Graeme Ogilvie (613) 830-9160 (email: [email protected]) Vice-President: Brian Williamson (613) 730-2031 Vice-President: Ermis Durofil (613) 837-6917 Treasurer: Jack Yourt (613) 774-3622 Secretary: Douglas Heyland (613) 821-2505

Ottawa Citizen headline, Sunday 09 April 2000. Icy chaos on the roads: Snow a factor in nearly 250 traffic accidents… Police, paramedics and fire crews were busy all day as car after car slithered off slick roads. Many overturned, especially along the Queensway and other roads with ditches.

Unfortunately, the day to which this referred was Sat 08 April 2000, the day of our 14th Annual Ottawa Branch Open Solo Contest. It was hard to believe that a contest scheduled for mid-April could be impacted by a huge snowstorm, but such is weather in Canada. Of course, if we didn't have a sense of humour, we wouldn't be playing pipes/drums in the first place.

But the good news is that an enthusiastic audience of over 70 people still made it to the Army Officers' Mess from the local area to hear a very good night's musical entertainment. Our judge for the evening, John Walsh, made the voyage all the way from Antigonish, Nova Scotia and his participation in our night's event was very much appreciated. The number of contestants was down from last year, but the quality of the piping was still very high. Rob Crabtree's thirty minute recital after the competitions was particularly enjoyable. It was quite a demonstration of some very entertaining playing.

The winners at the Ottawa Branch 2000 Open Solo Contest:

1st Rob Crabtree

2nd Andrew Hayes

3rd John Wright

Rob Crabtree, Andrew Hayes, John Walsh, John Wright Rob Crabtree with Mr Rod MacLeod of the Ottawa Branch of the MacLeod Society, sponsor of the first place cheque of $300. In the background is the Glengarry Cup, also awarded to the first place finisher.

A big thank you, too, to the 78th Fraser Highlanders of Ottawa who came through with a very timely donation of the 3rd place prize money. April 2000

Last Event of the 1999/2000 Season: Winchester In-Door Games 2000 (see enclosed entry form)

Place: Winchester Public School, St Lawrence Street, Winchester, Ontario Date: Saturday 13 May 2000 Time: 8:15 am registration, first competitors to play at 9:00 am Questions: please contact Jack Yourt at 774-3622 or Graeme Ogilvie at 830-9160

General News:

Maxville Recital, sponsored by Glengarry School of Piping and Drumming Major John Cairns (1999 Gold Medalist Oban, 1999 Gold Medalist Inverness) Maxville Arena Hall on Tuesday 18 April 2000 starting at 8:00 pm The charge is $5.00 at the door (includes lunch). For further information - telephone Sybil MacPhee at 613-527-5357.

Kingston School of Scottish Music and Dance 4 piping instructors - Bob Worrall, Ken Eller, Lindsay Kirkwood, and Rob Crabtree Drumming instructor - Chris Bell Dancing program features Ann Milne-Armstrong and Sheila Milne. School runs from July 10-14 in Kingston. Registration forms are available from Scott Bell at (613) 542-7287 or [email protected]. Forms also on web page: www.kingston.net/~rdonald/kssmd/

Ontario School of Piping and Drumming St. Andrew's College, Aurora, Ontario 26-30 June and 03-07 July Piping Instructors Week 1: Jim McGillivary, Ken Eller, Willie McCallum, Alasdair Gillies, Rob Crabtree Piping Instructors Week 2: Jim McGillivary, Ken Eller, Angus McColl, John Cairns, Rob Crabtree Drumming Instructors Week 2: Douglas Stronach, Craig Calquohon, Tyler Fry For information contact Jim McGillivary at [email protected] or check web page: www.sac.on.ca/ontpiping for Sale contact Jack Yourt at 774-3622 one set ivory mounted Lawries 2 kilts, 1 jackets, 2 pair of ghillie brogues, sizes 8 ½ and 9 ½

Cape Breton Bodhrans, specializing in Celtic drums and accessories. New web site at www.capebretonbodhrans.com.

The Alliance of North American Pipe Band Associations (ANAPBA) is pleased to announce a contest for the design of its official logo. First place winner will be awarded $500; second place winner will be awarded $300. The winners of the contest will be announced on the ANAPBA web site, and will be announced via e-mail to member Associations. Each artist may submit only one logo entry. Submittals must be received no later than the close of business on 01 August 2000. Two pages of rules can be requested at [email protected].

Some piping web-sites which have recently been brought to our attention that you might find interesting:

Bagpipe Web Directory, http://members.aol.com/bagpipeweb/index.html

David Daye's Bagpipe Page, http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/bagpipes.html

Worlds Greatest Pipeband List, http://www.iosphere.net/~robb/bands/world.html

*** IT’S THE END OF ANOTHER INDOOR SEASON, AND ITS ON TO THE OUTDOOR CIRCUIT. IF ANYONE HAS SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO IMPROVE THE OTTAWA BRANCH ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT YEAR, PLEASE DON’T BE SHY. PASS THEM ON TO ANY OF US THAT ARE ON YOUR EXECUTIVE ***