Big gathering of pipers for Labour Day week-end

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 18

Big gathering of pipers for Labour Day week-end

New Zealand’s top pipers will converge on Christchurch at Labour Day week-end for the New Zealand solo piping championships, to be held at St Andrew’s College. More than 70 pipers from as far afield as Waipu, north of Whangarei, are expected to contest the 12 events, from novice to A grade. The prestigious event for the last 10 years, the D. and M. Gannaway Silver Chanter, will be contested by 21 pipers. The championships, to be held on Saturday and Sunday, of the 24 and 25, in the school’s auditorium, are the annual competitions of the Highland Piping Society of Canterbury. They have been designated the national championships. Entrants will come from Invercargill, Wellington and Dunedin. They Include many of the coun-

try’s top pipers, including Brian Switalla, Airdrie Stewart, Alistair Hanning and lan McKay. Local hopes in the topgrade events will be carried by Dougald Murdoch, George Mason, and Andrew Wilson. The judges are Messrs lan . Guild and Frank McKinnon. The latter was for many years pipe major of the City of Wellington Pipe Band and was a guest of honour at the last Edinburgh Military Tattoo. One of the country’s most accomplished pipers, John Hanning, of Wellington, will miss the championships because of an engagement in Scotland. He has been invited to compete in the Grants Competition, the world’s top event for piobaireachd, or classical piping. The other prestigious event of the national

championships, the Clasp Competition, is open only to previous winners of the Silver Chanter. The competitions will be open to the public, /running on Saturday from 8.30 a.m. until about 11 p.m. Sunday’s competition will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. before the Clasp Competition in the evening. Mr Alistair Miller, for many years master of ceremonies at the Labour Day week-end piping competitions, has announced this will be his last year in the position. Held in ~ conjunction with the solo piping championships will be the twenty-first* New Zealand championship meeting of Highland and national dancing. The competition will be in the auditorium of the recently opened Christchurch Girls’ High School. The host will be the Can-

terbury-West Coast centre of the Piping and Dancing Association.

Competition will begin on Friday, October 23, at 6.30 p.m., although the official opening will not be until 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 24.

This event has not been held in Christchurch since 1974. About 260 dancers from Whangarei to Invercargill will compete, including Mark Forshaw, who recently returned from competitions in Scotland.

Among local dancers, Jacqueline Osborne holds the districtioh of performing successfully for the last 18 years. Judges appointed to the meeting are Mesdames Enid Weir, of Dunedin, Patricia Clarke, of Auckland, Rosalie Clapham, of New Plymouth, and Colleen Cole, of Christchurch.