A new beat for the 2025 South African Pipe Band Championships
Bedfordview, Johannesburg – July 26, 2025 – Trepidation. Unseasonal winter rain the night before the South African Pipe Band Championships had many concerned about what the conditions would be like come morning at St. Benedict’s College in Bedfordview, where the event would take place for the first time in its history.
Surveying the field below, several attendees at a cocktail evening hosted by the school and the Pipe Bands’ Association of Southern Africa agreed that rain on the contest day could be problematic.
Typical winter weather in the Highveld in South Africa is very dry. This, coupled with an altitude of over 1.6 km above sea level, cold wind, and hot sun, creates unique conditions that keep pipers and pipe-majors on their toes.
Rain being added to that equation seemed entirely unnecessary. We aren’t quite as used to it as our counterparts in the northern hemisphere.
Not to be deterred that easily, though, conversations quickly turned from concern to excitement and anticipation of the contest. Several innovations to this year’s event promised to make it a special one and a memorable debut hosting the championships for St. Benedict’s.
Various band leaders and managers were in attendance, alongside esteemed international guests. These included international adjudicators Paul Brown and Brian Wilson, with an entourage of five drum-majors from the Northern Ireland Drum-Major Display Team.
The evening event was arranged to bring people together in a good atmosphere and to give the organizers a chance to share their ambitions for elevating the status of the National Championship.
The main talking points were the first-ever live stream, the aforementioned international visitors, a layout change, merchandise, and a digital programme, all elements geared towards making it a world-class event.
The main talking points were the first-ever live stream, the aforementioned international visitors, a layout change, merchandise, and a digital programme, all elements geared towards making it a world-class event.
“St. Benedict’s has been interested in hosting the South African Pipe Band Championships for some time now, so when the opportunity arose to bid for the event, we jumped at it,” said Anthony Evans, St. Benedict’s College Pipe Band bandmaster. “We had a definite idea of what we wanted to achieve. We felt that the event would benefit from a rebrand, and it would probably help us establish our version of the event. We approached an ex-St. Benedict’s band student gave him some concepts, and he came up with the finished product. The branding went a long way to creating excitement around the event.”
The South African Championships is also the final of three Championship contests to determine Champion of Champions for the year.
– contributed by Joshua Hogg
Grade 2
1st Transvaal Scottish
2nd Benoni Mactalla
3rd Còmhlan 1645
4th Durban Caledonian Society
Grade 3
1st De La Salle Combined
2nd Pretoria Highlanders
3rd Cape Town Highlanders
4th African Skye
5th SA Irish
Grade 4
1st Transvaal Scottish (Gr4)
2nd Knysna & Districts
3rd African Skye (Gr4)
4th KZN Callies
5th Pretoria Highlanders (Gr4)
6th Benoni
Juvenile
1st St. Benedict’s
2nd Benoni
Novice Juvenile
1st Pretoria Boys
2nd De La Salle
3rd Jeppe
4th St Benedict’s
5th King Edward VII
6th Benoni
NO COMMENTS YET