Johnstone, Boghall leap up at North Berwick

North Berwick (Scotland – August 5 (2017 – In its first year in Grade 1 (Johnstone has made a strong statement that it not only belongs there, but is already a factor. The band won the Medley event at North Berwick with four firsts, beating far more established bands in the grade, including Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia and the 78th Fraser Highlanders. Peoples Ford Boghall came back to win the MSR event with straight firsts. Bands often use North Berwick as a warm up for the World Championships, and bands are allowed to play up a grade. Several Grade 2 bands placed ahead of Grade 1 bands, including St. Thomas Alumni of Houston, which finished fifth in the Grade 1 MSR contest, ahead of Grade 1 Buchan Peterson and Peel Regional Police. Weather was variably Scottish.

Grade 1
Medley
1st Johnstone (1,1,1,1)
2nd Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia (2,2,2,2)
3rd 78th Fraser Highlanders (3,3,3,3)
4th Buchan Peterson (4,5,4,4)
5th Peel Regional Police (5,4,5,5)
Judges: John Connor (Brian Switalla (piping); Alex Dudgeon (drumming); Paul Turner (ensemble)

MSR
1st Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia (1,1,1,1)
2nd Glasgow Police (4,3,3,2)
3rd 78th Fraser Highlanders (2,2,10,3)
4th Johnstone (5,6,7,4)
5th St. Thomas Alumni (Gr2) (7,5,2,8)
6th Buchan Peterson (6,7,6,5)
7th Glasgow Skye Association (Gr2) (8,4,8,6)
8th Peel Regional Police (3,8,9,7)
9th The PipeBand Club (Gr2) (11,10,5,9)
10th St. Andrews (Gr2) (10,11,4,10)
11th College of Piping, Summerside (Gr2) (9,9,11,11)
Judges: John McCarlie, Ken Eller (piping); Bob Black (drumming); Gordon Lawrie (ensemble)