Belfast 'Pipes up' For Championships

Bands are travelling from all over Europe to take part in one of the highlights of the pipe band calendar this weekend with Belfast hosting the prestigious European Championships.

Hosted by Belfast City Council and the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Northern Ireland branch, the competition - which has attracted 123 bands and 47 drum majors - takes place at the Civil Service sports grounds at Stormont on Saturday.

More than 25,000 people are expected to witness the spectacle, which also will be held in Belfast in the next two years as well.

There's even one band from the United States and one from Australia expected.

Bands will compete in five rings and there also will be children's activities, highland dancing, tented village area selling tartan goods, food and drink, including a beer tent.

The competition takes place between 10.30am and 5.30pm, culminating in a spectacular march past by all of the competing bands.

The Championships will then be followed by 'PipeUp! Belfast' - a week-long festival of piping/drumming and Ulster Scots folk music, including the PipeUp! Festival Club at the Europa hotel at 8.30pm on Saturday 31 July, featuring the Fred Morrison Band, Bernagh and solo pipers Allen Tully and Andrew Carlisle and an afternoon of 'Pure Blarney' at Morrison's bar, Bedford Street, at 2pm on Sunday 1 August.

Piping workshops, with John Nevans, are also planned at the Europa, from Monday 2nd to Wednesday 4th August, starting at 9.30am each day along with daily pipe band and Highland dancing displays in the grounds of City Hall between 12.30pm and 2pm from the Monday to Friday.

The week will culminate with a concert by the world famous Simon Fraser University Pipe Band and six times World Champions Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band at the Belfast Waterfront on Friday 6 August.

This will be the first time that the bands have played together. Tickets cost £20 and are available from the Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Hall box offices as above.

For more details on all the events, visit www.belfastcity.gov.uk or www.rspba.org

(BMcC/GK)