ASHBOURNE HIGHLAND GATHERING 2000

GRADE IV

1	WOLVERHAMPTON	76.5
2	TROON BLACKROCK	70.5
3	WEST MIDLANDS FIRE SERVICE	64
4	RAF HALTON	58.5
5	EAST KILBRIDE	58.25
6	DARTFORD & DISTRICT	54.75
7	HOUGHTON-LE-SPRING 1995	53.5
8	RBL TRIUMPH	52.75
9	STIRLING & DISTRICT SCHOOLS	50.25
10	ESSEX CALEDONIA	50
11	ASHBOURNE & DISTRICT	49.25
12	LIVERPOOL SCOTTISH	46
13	NORTH MANCHESTER	42

(Symbols after band names provide links to their homepages)

What can be said about a result like this, not just the final position but the winning margin!

Piping tone was excellent, by far the best we have ever produced as a grade IV band, even though it was a Pipe Majors hell at the start of the day to get any sort of match from a few of the chanters (they grey cells of the pipers also seemed to be somewhere else until we hit the final tuning area and then everything clicked into place)

Very bad piping finger slip (different piper again!) in the last tune, but up to then this was a real winning performance. I thought the mistake had put us out of the running completely but at the end of the day we were first in piping, first in ensemble and sixth in drumming.

Both corps this time showed a further improvement over the previous day, as good as that had been.

Regrets? - Banbury didn't compete, as I'm fairly sure we might just have taken them aswell with this result. Oh well couple of contests left yet to realise that dream.