David Clark was our adjudicator this year. The draw took place shortly after 9.00am and the first competitor in the Juvenile March went on at about 9.45am. The final tune in the M/S/R was played over seven hours later. Competitors taking part in six or seven events often find this to be quite a tiring day. But they do usually get a reasonable break between each performance. Not so with a judge. He needs to keep his concentration firmly on the task in hand for several hours at a stretch - not a easy job.

Rose Fletcher has spent a lifetime promoting and encouraging good piping/drumming in this area. Last October, at the annual Glenfiddich Piping Competition at Blair Castle, she was awarded the Balvenie Medal "for services to piping" . This medal is a most prestigious award in the national piping community and it is the first time, to my knowledge, that it has ever been awarded to anyone in this area.

Rose embodies for us here in this branch the essence of what we are all hopefully trying to achieve - nurturing and encouraging as high a standard as possible in piping and drumming in our local pipe band and solo piping communities.