Brigadoon at Bundanoon 2014

Brigadoon at Bundanoon 2014

The weather forecast was not good a week out and did not improve during the week for this years Brigadoon at Bundanoon. Travelling to Bundanoon we encountered light showers but as we got closer they stopped. Getting closer the traffic is usually much heavier but not this year, arriving at the YHA we found there were no cars lining the sides of the road so the crowd numbers were down and well before the day started, never mind, for those who have ventured forth the Pipes and Drums will be played

Upon arrival at the YHA found the situation normal, some having a leisurely time of it, non players while the Band members were in various stages of dress, rumours that one piper was not even moving were also circulating. With a quick check to make sure I had pipes, badge, raincoat and hat it was off to the bus stop under Neil’s guidance

Peterson’s Garage area was as usual a hive of activity, Bands playing tunes, tuning pipes, adjusting their dress as well as meeting up with old friends and making new ones. Illawarra Pipe Band was number 16 to depart this year, a bit further back than the previous 5 or 6 years. As more members arrived it was becoming clear that no one had brought the Drum Major’s Mace and things were looking grim as Mike Kelly was there ready to do Drum Major duties but with the help of one of the interested locals, a well worn broom handle and some alfoil a more than suitable replacement was created

David Schroeder, our overseas visitor (Germany) was making his first appearance with Illawarra Pipe Band today and certainly looked the part. David has been an enthusiastic participant since arriving two months ago from Germany and it is a shame that he leaves in three weeks, I am sure his home band miss him as Illawarra Pipe Band will, looking forward to his company on some more turnouts before he departs, it is a shame that that the weather was not the best for David and his partner even though David did not seem annoyed by the weather nor in a hurry to don a raincoat, more on that later.
After the tune up Illawarra had a “democratic” vote on raincoats with the majority voting “No” which turned out this time to be a good choice. By the time Illawarra Pipe Band stepped off they had 11 pipers and 6 drummers, not a bad turnout at all.

Crowd numbers were down certainly but there was still a fair crowd of onlookers lining the route to the Festival area and a good number around the oval itself. There was the usual opening ceremony and Massed Bands doing more laps of the field than necessary according to some attendees before a word from the PM about the tune up time for our performance and after that it was off for breakfast, smoko, morning tea and maybe some hardier souls went for a wee dram or two.

Illawarra Pipe Band performance was around lunchtime and they were again accompanied by several young dancers, Jessica Robertson, Glynn Savage, Gyhanna Cox and Trinity Cox, it would be nice to see more take up this tradition. This year Illawarra Pipe Band was lucky as the rain stayed away during their lunchtime performance.

The afternoon Massed Bands affair was looking grim with clouds gathering and when the time came most of the band went on to the paddock with raincapes on but our overseas visitor was still happy to go without, luckily when it did rain the Massed bands were at the halt and David was able to don his raincape, one band member even remarked “it is the most fun I have had in the rain”. Even with the rain it was pleasing to see so many of the crowd still there supporting the bands at the closing ceremony of Brigadoon at Bundanoon 2014.

Photos were kindly supplied by John Panneman