A&D want to congratulate all the winners at the recent New Zealand Championships held over the weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip down to Rotorua and catching up with all of our friends from around the country!
The band placed 4th overall, with a 3rd in the MSR event in grade 1. It wasn’t what we were aiming for, but we know we didn’t deliver our best on the board so we’ll take it on the chin, have a well earned break, regroup and come back stronger next season!
Overall the band had one of the most successful and BUSY! seasons in our long history with a World Championship campaign (gaining 5th in the Medley qualifier event), taking out the Auckland minibands, winning the Medley event at Palmerston North Square Day and performing with Sir Paul McCartney on stage in front of 35,000 people.
We were proud to put a band on the park at Nationals with only 2 members from outside New Zealand (one in particular has come out every year since 2001) made up of a very young, and increasingly experienced membership!
Thank you all for your incredible support over this last 12 months, it has been greatly appreciated!
One last highlight, which we acknowledge with great enthusiasm, is the increasingly close working relationships we shared with the greater Auckland Pipe Band community. This season saw bands working closer together than I’ve ever seen and I believe we all benefited from working together towards our shared goal of a thriving community.
To those competing at this year’s World Championships we wish you the best of luck and will be supporting you from back home wishing you every success!
Ben McLaughlin
Pipe Major