Upcoming Branch AGMs

Saturday September 24th, 2016

General Meeting season is upon us with the first branch AGM this weekend. These meetings are a great opportunity to find out more about what’s happening in the PPBSO and your local branch. All members are welcome and encouraged to attend and participate.

Western Branch AGM
Sunday, Sep 25^th 2016, 7 PM
22 – 535 Topping Lane, London, ON
RSVP to: Kim at 519-432-0199 or westppbso@hotmail.com
Email submissions welcome

Niagara-Hamilton Branch AGM
Friday, September 30^th, 7:00 PM
Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 163
Hamilton

Toronto Branch AGM
Saturday, October 1^st, 3:30 PM
Moss Park Armoury
Toronto

Ottawa Branch AGM
Friday October 7^th, 7:30 PM
HMCS Bytown Naval Officers’ Mess
Ottawa

Fergus Results

Saturday August 13th, 2016

Thank you to all of the solo competitors, bands, and supporters who came out to Fergus today. Unfortunately, the band contests were cancelled due to weather.

The solo events were completed, and the full results will be posted on Sunday.

Maxville 2016 Solo Schedule

Friday July 22nd, 2016

As a reminder to all contestants, the amateur piping and snare drumming solo contests (grades 1 through 5 and amateur Piobaireachd) at Maxville will be held on Friday, July 29^th. All Professional solo contests and all tenor and bass contests will be held on the morning of Saturday, July 30^th.

Maxville Grade 5 Band Meeting

Tuesday July 19th, 2016

The band meeting for the grade 5 bands at Maxville will be held on Friday, July 29^th at 11:00.

Kincardine Solos Update

Wednesday June 29th, 2016

Due to a shortage of judges and the early start time for the grade 5 bands at Kincardine on Saturday, changes to the order of play, judging assignments, and event start times for a number of solo events have been made. Please check the updated order of play on the PPBSO website at http://ppbso.org/kincardine-scottish-festival-4 and verify the start time for each of your events. We apologize for the inconvenience, but the adjustments were required.

Saturday will be a busy day running on an incredibly tight schedule. All competitors are required to check in with the steward for each contest by the beginning of the event. Competitors who fail to check in on time or are absent when its their turn to compete risk being disqualified for the event and receiving a result of Did Not Play (DNP). With everyone’s cooperation and attention, the day will run smoothly for both you and your fellow competitors.

Kincardine Band Meeting and Band Locations

Saturday June 25th, 2016

Two quick announcements. The first is that the band meeting for the Kincardine Scottish Festival will be at 10:00 instead of the usual 11:00. All bands are required to have a representative attend the meeting.

The second is that we’ve put together a custom map displaying the base camp locations for each of the bands. Hopefully this will allow people to more easily navigate on the day of the games. That map can be found at http://tinyurl.com/hmmqw2q.

Grade 4 Band Gap Analysis and Requirements Review

Sunday June 19th, 2016

The Pipers’ and Pipe Band Society of Ontario periodically reviews its requirements and grading structure to ensure that our members and bands are placed in the correct competitive grade based on both local and global standards. Over the past couple of years, a noticeable trend of bands vacating grade 4 has occurred. The PPBSO has decided to perform an analysis of this trend to discover what (if any) adjustments need to be made to the grading structure and/or the requirements for the grade in order to promote the growth of the grade.

To that end, over the next couple of weeks the PPBSO will be sending out an electronic questionnaire to bands in grades 4 and 5, as well as other interested parties. The results of this questionnaire will be considered along with other factors by the Music Committee and the Executive to determine which steps to take next (if any) regarding the relatively small number of bands in the grade. Any recommended changes will be considered by the Board of Directors in September in advance of the 2017 season.

As always, we are keenly interested in hearing from our members. While decisions such as grading requirements must be made based upon a number of factors, membership input is a significant factor in those decisions. We look forward to hearing from our bands and our members on this important issue.

Cobourg 2016 Results and Medals

Saturday June 18th, 2016

I would like to thank everyone who came out today for the Cobourg Highland Games. I would also like to thank all of the soloists this morning for their patience and understanding regarding the medals. We ran into an unfortunate situation where we were not in possession of the medals for the solo events until the end of the day. I know that not receiving your medal when you get your results can be quite disappointing, and we apologize for the oversight.

The plan is to distribute the medals at Kincardine and Cambridge. We ask that amateur competitors who placed within the top three in their events bring their score sheets to either of those two games to claim your medals. Those competitors who will not be attending Kincardine or Cambridge should mail the office at admin@ppbso.org so that we can make alternative arrangements to deliver your medals.

The full results for Cobourg can be found at http://ppbso.org/cobourg-highland-games-4.