The Annual General Meeting of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association was held at our Washington Street Headquarters on March 8th, writes Jackie Allen of RSPBA Marketing & Media.
Delegates and band representatives heard that the year focused on restoring our financial position, delivering a successful season of major competitions, and developing our education and training programs.
The number of bands in membership in 2024 was 366. The Standards and Grading group had a particularly busy year reflecting the dynamic nature of the competitive landscape.
A large programme of adjudicator training ran throughout the year, 246 exams were taken in piping and drumming and a successful summer school was held.
A fundraising officer is now in post, and the essential work of the Standing Orders committee has tidied up the wording of a number of regulations to reflect or clarify changes.
The accounts were approved, with members noting that they would like to see a restoration of the detailed costs breakdowns per championships.
There were also some presentational anomalies due to changes in the coding of entries. The new operating model for sharing the costs and profits of major competitions with a host makes it hard to predict the profit (or loss) in advance, and so funds remain tight.
There will be four major Championships in 2025: UK (July 12) Scottish (July 26) European (August 9) and Worlds (August 15-16). Despite lengthy negotiations with a number of potential partners for the British Championships, none concluded in time to sign a contract.
Twelve new adjudicators will start this season. The current list now has 73 appointed panel members, which includes 23 qualified as ensemble.
Four proposals put forward by members were not carried. However, they all engendered a healthy debate and there was very positive discussion regarding the future use of technology by adjudicators.
Robert Mathieson explained what has been trialled in USA and some of the issues this has thrown up. These are technical (IT support, connectivity, storage, type of equipment, kit management), human (retraining) and cost. More work is needed and possibly a trial at minor contests.
