44 Grade 2 Bands to Compete at World Championships

The 2000 World Pipe Band Championships, to be held on Saturday, August 12, in Glasgow, Scotland, will see a record number of Grade 2 bands take part in the event.

A total of 44 Grade 2 bands have entered, thus smashing the 35 band threshold set by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association to break the category into two qualifying heats.

Two groups of 22 bands will vie for a minimum of 12 places in the final, with the top six from each group going through. Additionally, bands that place first in drumming but don’t finish in the top six as a band will be allowed to compete for only the drumming prize, thus making a 14 band final a possibility.

In 1997 Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia‘s Grade 2 band won the drumming in its heat, but did not place in the top six, and was put through to the final.

The Grade 2 category was also bolstered for 2000 with the relegation of four bands from Grade 1 after the 1999 season. Lothian & Borders Police, Grampian Police, Polkemmet, and Ravara were all sent down.

Bands competing in the Grade 2 event at the World’s will be required to play a medley in both the qualifier and the final, should they make it through.

One insider commented: “The Grade 2 event at the World’s will once again be the most interesting and hard-fought contest of the day.”

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