Canterbury Caledonian Society: 2024 New Zealand Champions

Auckland – March 15-16, 2024 – Canterbury Caledonian Society successfully defended their title by winning the 2024 New Zealand Pipe Band Championship in excellent conditions at the two-day event. Celtic (Nelson) took the Grade 2 title. As is the custom in New Zealand, the full prize lists were not announced at the prize-giving ceremony.

Manawatu Scottish tied for the Grade 1 title, and the tie was broken by the MSR result. It was the Grade 1 debut of Melbourne, Australia’s Hawthorn; the band finished third overall.

The Grade 1 New Zealand Police, one of the country’s most recognized pipe bands, did not field a competing band.

More than 50 bands competed across all grades, including 11 in the Juvenile category, again pointing to a promising future for the New Zealand scene.

The Friday competitions were a bit wet, but the sun shone throughout Saturday, and temperatures reached about 70°F with a cool breeze.

Both the Friday and Saturday competitions were live-streamed by the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association, hosted throughout by drummer Libby O’Brien and piper Phillip Main, both with many years competing at the Grade 1 level. They provided entertaining and humourous commentary throughout both days’ events. A feature of the coverage was showing each band’s chanters and drums and their 2023 NZ Championships result, giving the broadcast a sporting event feel.

pipes|drums was proud to be a sponsor of the live stream. Stay tuned for more results as they are made available.

Grade 1
Overall
1st Canterbury Caledonian Society
2nd Manawatu Scottish
3rd Hawthorn
4th Auckland & District
5th ILT City of Invercargill Highland
Drumming: Canterbury Caledonian Society
Bass section: Manawatu Scottish
Ensemble: Manawatu Scottish

Medley
1st Manawatu Scottish (2,2,1,1)
2nd Canterbury Caledonian Society (1,1,3,3)
3rd Hawthorn (4,3,2,2)
4th ILT City of Invercargill Highland (3,4,5,5)
5th Auckland & District (5,5,4,4)
Drumming: Manawatu Scottish
Judges: Richard Parkes, Stuart Easton (piping); Liam Kernaghan (ensemble); Scot Mitchell (drumming)

MSR
1st Canterbury Caledonian Society (1,1,3,1)
2nd Manawatu (2,2,1,3)
3rd Auckland & District (3,3,2,5)
4th ILT City of Invercargill Highland (4,4,4,4)
5th Hawthorn (5,5,5,2)
Drumming: Canterbury Caledonian Society
Judges: Brian Switalla, Martin Frewen (piping); Ross Levy (ensemble); Gordon Parkes (drumming)

Grade 2
Overall
1st Celtic (Nelson)
2nd St. Andrew’s College
3rd St. Andrew’s College (Brisbane)
4th City of Tauranga
5th Wellington Red Hackle
Drumming: St. Andrew’s College
Bass section: Celtic (Nelson)

Medley
1st City of Tauranga (3,4,1,2)
2nd St. Andrew’s College (4,3,2,1)
3rd St. Andrew’s College (Brisbane) (2,2,4,3)
4th Celtic (Nelson) (1,1,5,4)
5th Wellington Red Hackle (5,5,3,5)
Judges: Brian Switalla, Martin Frewen (piping); Ross Levy (ensemble); Gordon Parkes (drumming)

MSR
1st Celtic (Nelson) (1,1,1,1)
2nd St. Andrew’s College (Brisbane) (2,2,2,5)
3rd St. Andrew’s College (3,3,2,2)
4th City of Tauranga (4,4,4,3)
5th Wellington Red Hackle (5,5,5,4)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Stuart Easton (piping); Liam Kernaghan (ensemble); Scot Mitchell (drumming)

Grade 3
Overall
1st City of Melbourne Highland
2nd Canterbury Caledonian Society (Gr3)
3rd Auckland & District (Gr3)
4th City of Ipswich
5th ILT City of Invercargill Highland
6th Manawatu Scottish (Gr3)
7th Hawkes Bay Caledonian
8th Auckland Police
9th Northland Caledonian
Drumming: City of Melbourne
Bass section: Canterbury Caledonian Society (Gr3)

Medley
1st City of Melbourne Highland (1,1,1,2)
2nd Canterbury Caledonian Society (3,4,2,1)
3rd Auckland & District (2,2,3,3)
4th ILT City of Invercargill Highland (4,3,5,6)
5th City of Ipswich (1,5,6,4)
6th Manawatu Scottish (6,7,6,5)
7th Hawkes Bay Caledonian (7,5,7,7)
8th Auckland Police (9,9,8,8)
9th Northland Caledonian (8,8,9,9)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Stuart Easton (piping); Liam Kernaghan (ensemble); Scot Mitchell (drumming)

MSR
1st Canterbury Caledonian Society (3,1,2,2)
2nd Auckland & District (2,4,1,3)
3rd City of Melbourne Highland (1,1,3,1)
4th City of Ipswich (4,2,3,4)
5th Manawatu Scottish (7,6,4,6)
6th Auckland Police (6,5,6,7)
7th ILT City of Invercargill Highland (5,9,8,5)
8th Hawkes Bay Caledonian (8,7,7,8)
9th Northland Caledonian (9,8,9,9)
Judges: Brian Switalla, Martin Frewen (piping); Ross Levy (ensemble); Gordon Parkes (drumming)

Grade 4A
Overall
1st Hamilton Caledonian Society
2nd Metro Scottish
3rd St. Andrew’s College (B)
4th Hokonui Celtic
5th Papakura
6th City of Rotorua Highland
7th Wellington Red Hackle
8th Canterbury Caledonian Society
9th City of Wellington
10th Celtic (Nelson)
Drumming: Hokonui Celtic

Medley
1st Hamilton Caledonian Society (1,1,1,2)
2nd Metro Scottish (3,3,2,1)
3rd St. Andrew’s College (B) (2,2,3,6)
4th Papakura (4,6,4,4)
5th Hokonui Celtic (6,7,5,3)
6th Canterbury Caledonian Society (7,8,6,7)
7th City of Rotorua Highland (9,4,7,8)
8th City of Wellington (5,5,9,10
9th Wellington Red Hackle (8,10,8,5)
10th Celtic (Nelson) (10,9,10,9)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Stuart Easton (piping); Liam Kernaghan (ensemble); Scot Mitchell (drumming)

MSR
1st Hamilton Caledonian Society (2,2,1,3)
2nd Metro Scottish (1,1,2,6)
3rd Hokonui Celtic (3,3,4,2)
4th St. Andrew’s College (B) (4,6,3,5)
5th Wellington Red Hackle (7,5,5,4)
6th City of Rotorua Highland (5,4,6,7)
7th Canterbury Caledonian Society (8,10,8,1)
8th Papakura (6,8,7,8)
9th Celtic (Nelson) (9,9,9,9)
10th City of Wellington (10,7,10,10)
Judges: Brian Switalla, Martin Frewen (piping); Ross Levy (ensemble); Gordon Parkes (drumming)

Grade 4B
Overall
1st South Canterbury Highland
2nd City of Melbourne Highland No. 2
3rd City of Dunedin
4th ILT City of Invercargill Highland
5th Hokonui Celtic Social
6th City of Sails
7th Feilding & Districts
8th Ashburton County Scottish Society
9th St. Kentigern College
10th City of Ipswich No. 2
11th Wellington Red Hackle
12th RSA Franklin

Juvenile
1st St. Andrew’s College (1,1,1,1)
2nd ILT City of Invercargill Highland (4,4,2,2)
3rd Canterbury Caledonian Society Juvenile (3,3,4,3)
4th St. Andrew’s College (B) (2,2,5,6)
5th Lewis Turrell Memorial Trust Juvenile (5,5,3,4)
6th South Canterbury Highland & Celtic (7,7,7,5)
7th Auckland Grammar School (6,6,8,10)
8th ILT City of Invercargill Highland Juvie B (8,10,6,8)
9th St. Kentigern College (9,8,10,7)
10th City of Dunedin (10,9,9,9)
11th Wellington Red Hackle Team Goose (11,11,11,11)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Stuart Easton (piping); Liam Kernaghan (ensemble); Scot Mitchell (drumming)