Centenary of ANZAC Thankyou
Dear members,
On behalf of Pipe Bands Victoria, thank you to all the bands and band members who participated in the ANZAC Day Centenary Celebrations on Saturday and thank you for waiting after completing your marches to participate in the massed band, it was disappointing the weather was damp, but fortunately not as heavy as the rain on Sunday.
We appreciate the cooperation of all participating bands, especially for the massed band on the upper level at the Shrine and we acknowledge the efforts of Chris Earl, David Telford, and Andrew Womersley (Vice Principals of Dress & Drill, Piping and Drumming) for preparing and coordinating this event.
Unfortunately, much of their efforts were unravelled on the day due to a number of reasons, the main one being poor communication from the organisers. The Senior Drum Major commenced assembling the massed band at the recommended time but the RSL omitted to inform him they had decided to stick with the original assembly timetable. and had made other changes to their program. This resulted in a major rush to assemble the massed band, and denied the Senior Drum Major the opportunity to address the bands and to reaffirm the relevant changes and updated instructions which led to further confusion about the tunes. The assembly timing also meant several bands were still performing in the actual parade and were unable to be in place as the massed band stepped off.
Our sincerest apologies to those bands who were unable to participate, particularly as you taken the time to attend the rehearsal.
Regards,
Ross Connolly, Secretary
Pipe Bands Victoria
PO Box 6
WATSONIA VIC 3087
T: 0421 651 312