Edward Bierens Receives 1st Place Ribbon at Wichita Regional Science and Engineering Fair

Edward Bierens (son of John M. & Norma Bierens) took part in the Wichita Regional Science and Engineering Fair. It was held on March 1, 2013 at Exploration Place in Wichita, Kansas.

He received a 1st place ribbon. Edward is in the fourth grade and this the 1st Science Fair that he has entered. His division included 4th grade up to Junior High. In his division - his score also placed him in the top 20 which qualifies him to attend the upcoming Kansas State Science and Engineering Fair to be held on March 29th & 30th at Century II located in Wichita, Kansas.

Katie and Gillies Munro recently attended the RS Feva Worlds at Hayling Island

Katie and Gillies Munro (children of Kathleen Macpherson Munro) recently attended the RS Feva Worlds at Hayling Island in July 2012, there were 14 Nations and 184 boats. The RS Feva is a junior class boat with a jib, main sail and spinacker which can be hoisted by the crew to sail down wind. Gillies (the helm) and Katie (the crew) sailed a six-day race series including three days racing qualifiers. Each day they sailed out (against the tide) to the race area off the south coast of England and usually raced three races, the Fleet was divided into three flights with each race approximately 45 minutes, at the end of the day they sailed back against the tide. Sailing events require endurance as most days they were on the water from between 5-7 hours. Luckily some days they got a tow home!

Having never competed together before as they both normally helm they were lucky to qualify for the Gold fleet and I was lucky they still were speaking to each other at the end of each day. The sun continued to shine and the high pressure gave more light winds there followed another three days of racing in the Gold Fleet which was highly competitive. The conditions were generally light winds all week which suited the lighter crews, but Gillies and Katie did well and after the slightly windier day were sitting 19th O/A! But the last day there was a lack of wind and a lot of waiting around and they were sitting 33rd o/a and though they all launched in the end they sailed out and then sailed back without racing. There needs to be at least 5 knots of wind on the course to keep it fair!

Gillies and Katie were the only Scottish boat and did win the prize for the 3rd Family class and yes surprisingly there are quite a few partnerships of sibling pairings! Katie and Gillies are quite happy to sail with their friends but certainly enjoyed their week with all the other Nations particularly when they sailed in a fun event called the Nations Cup. There was no option to sail for Scotland to sail so instead they sailed for Canada as the Canadian sailors were exhausted after the hot race day so Gillies and Katie got to sail under the Canadian Spinaker through a red robin event in to the final where they eventually came 3rd!! It was fun to watch just off the beach. It was a culturally interesting week meeting the other Youth sailors from around the world under clear blue skies.

Misha Murdoch, junior member and his band, The Scotia Glenville Pipe Band were recently awarded First Place in the 2012 Novice Juvenile World Bagpipe Championship

As the morning sun burned off the mist on Glasgow Green in Scotland on Saturday, August 11th, 2012 - 335 Pipe Bands and over 8,000 band members comprising 8 grades faced off the determine who would be named The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association World Pipe Band Champions. The Scotia Glenville Pipe Band would be going pipe to pipe and drummer top drummer against 27 Novice Juvenile bands over 2 legs. When the noon time clocked showed 12:00 only 12 bands were left standing and Scotia was one of them. The Championship flight would be contested throughout the afternoon. The winners would be announced at the evening massed bands at 7:00. Scotia performed the 2nd set of the day and a comment was made by an observer that the performance was brilliant as the Scots say. The evening started off with the announcement of the drumming winners from the Novice Juvenile competition. George Watson's College garnered the win, which had the Scotia band take pause, as drumming accounted for one quarter of the final score.

Finally the announcer started, "the winner of the 2012 Novice Juvenile World Bag Pipe Championship is, The Scotia Glenville Pipe Band". Pandemonium erupted among the 26 band members and the 60 band supporters, who also made the trip, as well a loud round of cheers and shouts from the over 35,000 folks who came to view the day's events. Locale band members, Bass Drummer Morgan Perry, Snare Drummer Reid Perry and Misha Murdoch Bag Piper and the rest of the band are not pretenders nor contenders, but they are, The World Champions for 2012. Maureen Connor bag pipe instructor and Eric MacNeill drumming instructor had taken the band to the Worlds 2 prior championships, 2007 and 2009, both time taking 3rd place, and this was their first time they were part of a World Championship squad. The score sheet showed the band took two 1sts in piping in both performances and 2nd in both performances in drumming and ensemble. Scotia Glenville Pipe Band are the World Bag Pipe Champions for 2012.

On their trip they also took 1st place honors at the North Berwick Highland Games on the previous Saturday. The band's next competition will be at the Capital District Highland Games in Altamont held over 2 day on Labor Day Weekend.

Macpherson kilt leads the Pipes and Drums during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Thursday 5th July was a very special day for the Pipes and Drums of Ardvreck School in Scotland. Along with 21 other Pipe Bands the Pipes & Drums were part of the Royal Mile Parade. This event was in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee but more especially to honour Prince William, the Earl of Strathearn as he was invested with the Order of the Thistle. The 30 members of the Ardvreck Pipes & Drums marched from St Giles Cathedral to the Scottish Parliament down the Royal Mile which was crowded with cheering crowds. The parade ended with the massed Bands playing Highland Cathedral outside the Scottish Parliament.

Proudly leading the pipers in his Macpherson Hunting kilt was the Pipe Major of the Ardvreck Pipes & Drums, a certain Torquil Le Roy-Lewis. None other than our own Chief's grandson. Well done Torquil!