PP Ed’s Blog: SFU Fundraiser, South Africa 100 Guineas

Congratulations to all involved with the SFU charity concert for the BC Cancer Foundation. $32,000 (£17,000) is a considerable total to achieve. I watched the concert, and it certainly was an emotional evening, with Andrew Bonar and his family centre stage.

The band played very well in my view, as well as could be discerned from the Livestream, with strong melodic content in all selections. A drone hardly needed touched. It augurs well for the forthcoming season for SFU and pipe major Alan Bevan. It all looked so effortless for him and the band – and that is always a good sign.[wds id=”4″]

Fine painting of Andrew donated by Robert Mathieson. Before presenting it, Terry Lee  suggested Rab was a better painter than he was a piper then corrected himself. Terry, you were right the first time! (Rab has that sometimes rare thing in the piping world – a sense of humour, so Terry needn’t have worried about his slip of the tongue.) It was a very generous gesture by Rab, a former member of SFU.

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The cheque total is announced by the MC Skye Richendorfer with Andrew looking on

I thought Skye Richendrfer did a fine job as MC recalling at times the early days of the band and putting their achievements into context.

The closing drama was the ‘Balding for Boney’ sponsored headshave. I have to say that there is a distinct improvement in the appearance of some band members, and now you all know what it feels like for chrome domes like myself and others the world over! Here’s the before and after:CBTFhYnUYAAhIfJ


Full results from the Scottish Piping Society of the Witwatersrand’s 100 Guineas contest last weekend here. Well done to Champion Piper Gareth Rudolph.