Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Lord Selkirk boys band proves it has great pipes

'TWAS a glorious finish for a young Manitoba bagpipe band as it captured a number of top spots in separate competitions in Scotland earlier this month.

The Lord Selkirk Boys Pipe Band first captured an eighth-place finish in the novice juvenile division of the World's Pipe Band Championship in Glasgow. Twenty-five bands from around the world competed in the division.

"They did absolutely fantastic," said Pipe Major Robert Fraser. "The boys are so keen and so good. I knew they'd do very well."

More than 200 pipe bands competed at this year's championship from countries as far away as Iran and South Africa.

"It's a big deal for the boys," Fraser said, adding that one judge gave them first while another gave them ninth. "The lads have worked so hard the whole winter putting together what they're playing and to be recognized by their peers in Scotland is something else."

The following weekend, the Lord Selkirk Boys showed they were better than their eighth-place finish, placing first in the Bute (Bee-oot) Highland Games in Rothesay, Scotland.

"They beat some of the bands that beat them at the worlds the week before," Fraser laughed.

Fraser has directed the band for 52 years, but this year marked the first time the 87-year-old couldn't make it out to watch his band perform.

"I'm too old to go," he said. "I would have loved to have gone and seen it."

The Lord Selkirk Boys weren't the only Canadian band that dominated the competition.

Defending champions Simon Fraser University, hailing from B.C., took home top honours once again in the Grade One category.

-- Staff

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 31, 2009 B2

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