The RSPBA AGM was held in Glasgow today with representatives from 37 member bands attending.
After a delayed start (10.30am), President George Ussher welcomed everyone to the meeting in the elegant Trades Hall and presented a Honorary Life Membership to Mrs Vi McMorran for her long service to the Association as a results compiler (see picture below).
Mr Ussher then handed proceedings over to Chairman John Hughes.
Mr Hughes thanked all the bands and volunteers for a very successful 2018 season with good crowds and no serious hitches at the major championships.
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Other news from the AGM: Entry fees and prizemoney will remain the same for this year as last.
Live streaming at the indoor events such as the World Solo Drumming had brought 1,000 followers to the RSPBA YouTube channel.
Majors for 2019: The UK Championsips will move to Lurgan in Northern Ireland and the Europeans to Inverness.
The British will remain at St James Playing Fields in Paisley. The proposed shift to the King George V Playing Fields in nearby Renfrew had been postponed due to works still taking place there.
The refurbishment of the headquarters building in Washington Street had uncovered more asbestos in the roof lining than had been thought but this had now been stripped away at no extra cost to the project.
Interviews for the Directors of Piping and Drumming for the RSPBA College will take place on March 23rd. Education Officer Pat Whelan also intimated that there would be an addditional Principal, that of Pipe Band Musicianship.
RSPBA funds stand at just under £1m but all of this will be used for the HQ refurb. The Association is actively seeking financial support for the project which will give it a custom built teaching and admin facility ‘for the 21st century’.
Fifty four RSPBA PDQB assessors had attended Continuous Professional Development courses. 272 candidates sat SQA exams and 18 PDQB exams.
Judges rep John Wilson said the Adjudicator’s Panel had covered 379 assignments during 2018 and he praised the flexibility of members of the panel and also the ladies at Headquarters, Aliki, Gail and Rachel, who did so much behind the scenes to ensure the smooth running of so many contests.
Panel members were trying to ‘up their game’, said Mr Wilson, whilst at the same time everyone had to accept subjectivity in judging. However, more could be done to ensure consistency.
He also said that judges’ views should be taken into account in wider Association activity.
With no AOCB Mr Hughes wished all bands the very best of luck for the forthcoming season and the meeting closed at 11.25am.
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