Toukley Highland Gathering
03 September 2008
As the early morning sun shone upon Toukley, pipes could be heard tuning up in the carpark behind the main street. Pipes were soon joined by drums as bands then started rehersing their songs, making sure that everything was ready for the parade. The bands were joined together to form two separate groups, the Hills District Pipe Band holding the left echelon of the first group.
"By the centre, quick march", and we were off into Scotland the Brave and a collection of other tunes, marching down the main street of Toukley towards the Harry Moore oval. Entering the parade ground to the sound of the crowd cheering the bands formed up for their mass band set which was performed well, combining the efforts of over seven bands.
Immediately after mass bands The Hills District Pipe Band was on for it's individual performance. We had fifteen minutes to show the judges our stuff, playing several tunes whilst marching around. A couple of years ago the band had won the individual band competition at this very event, so in a way, we had a reputation to uphold. We played well and the crowd liked it, we even had the judge tapping along with a couple of the tunes.
After our individual performance, it was time to have lunch (or a late breakfast) and a walk around the stalls. The band then used its remaining time before the closing ceremony to practice the routine for the ball, coming up on the 20th of September.
The closing ceremony started at 4:30 and usually at Toukley at this time of the day it would be cold and raining but this year we were blessed with good weather, even though the temperature had deteriorated throughout the day. Mass bands went off without a hitch except for perhaps a few pipers and drummers who mis-heard the instructions for a left turn and turned right instead to face everyone who had turned left.
Unfortunately we did not win the challenge this year. It was an enjoyable day however and we will always have next year to look forward to.
Ben Holgate
Piper
Hills District Pipe Band
03/09/08