A Gibsons man is on his way home from Scotland after helping the Greighlan Crossing Pipe Band win the title of Best Drum Corps at the , held annually in Glasgow and organized by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association and Glasgow Life.
Bagpipe player Craig Buchanan says the Vancouver-based band also won the qualifier in the final, which took place Aug. 16 and 17. Also competing from the Sunshine Coast was Alexandra Devitt from Roberts Creek and John Paul DaSilva, who was born and raised in Powell River, but now lives in Port Coquitlam.
“We ended up sixth, but our drum corps won and are Grade 3a world champions. It all came down to one circle,” Buchanan told Coast Reporter, referring to the formation a band makes during competitions.
The band came home with three trophies, the 3A World Champion drum corps, sixth in 3A at the worlds and fifth in the European Championships 3A. Meanwhile, the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band placed third in Grade 1.
Buchanan says there were 28 bands competing in the 3a category at the world championship, 21, 3a bands in the European Championships, 143 bands in total at the European Championships, and 203 at the worlds.
In order to qualify, the band competed at the 77th Annual Pacific Northwest Scottish Highland Games and Clan Gathering in Enumclaw Washington, July 27 and 28. Greighlan Crossing not only competed in Grade 3 Medley, and March, Strathspey and Reel (MSR), but also submitted two teams to the Grade 3 Piping Quartet competition. One of those quartets was formed from the band’s top female pipers, while the other was made up of their top male pipers. But it was the women who took first place in the G3 Quartets, with the men coming in second.
Buchanan says the band stayed at the Caledonia Court University dorms in Glasgow with several other bands, so impromptu bagpipe practices were taking place on a regular basis.
“It was a total blast,” he says.
He adds, the band also had the opportunity to perform three times at , an annual, week-long festival celebrating Scotland’s heritage and piping cultures from around the globe. The festival annually coincides with the World Pipe Band Championships.
Buchanan started playing the bagpipes at six-years old and has been a part of Greighlan Crossing since 2014. He notes, this was his second time competing at the world championships.
“It was definitely an awesome experience,” he says.
Watch the perform in the MSR final 3a.
