RSPBA AGM – Order Paper Analysed

Our experts have had a trawl through the order paper for the RSPBA’s 95th AGM to be held this Saturday, March 14. This will be a hybrid meeting both online and in-person at Washington Street HQ. All bands who have paid their subs should have received an invite………

The order paper gets off to a bad start – the date on the front cover is 2025. The same applies on page three, indicating poor proof-reading.  First stat: at the 2025 AGM only 64 member bands were represented out of over 360. 

Judges: More adjudicators than in the past have been appointed last year and there is to be another new adjudicator training course this year. Convenor Robert Mathieson recently reported that a new Attached International adjudicator category is to be introduced. The latter would allow players from overseas bands to judge local competitions when their bands are in Scotland. 

Attached adjudicators can only judge at local competitions and RM also admits that the agreed rotational system for championships allocations has been affected by funding issues. Some adjudicators will be aggrieved if favoured ones get priority, as happened in the past. 

With the drop in competition numbers, there is a possible danger of having too many judges for too few competitions and it should be remembered that the more adjudicators are used, the more they develop their skills.

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Music Board: The prescribed tunes list for Grade 4 and Novice Juvenile bands seems to be ever evolving. The MAP format of having a small number of tunes which these bands can play properly and which contain groups of rudiments and embellishments suitable for teaching and potential drum corps can effect, seems to now have been abandoned completely.

Education: There is a very detailed report about the Summer School by John Nevans which had 25 students. The only references to the other side of the Pipe Band College are the stats on qualification assessments.  A significant number of these have been at George Watson’s, George Heriot’s and Preston Lodge schools. Branch numbers are poor apart from Johnstone, who run the Glasgow Branch tuition. No mention at all of the recent Pipe Band College Review nor any report from the current Principals.

Marketing and Media: The new website is a great improvement despite delays. Errors have been corrected. The highly efficient Convenor, Jackie Allan, has been given the role of collating the achievements of the Association to be highlighted in 2030, the RSPBA Centenary Year.  

Proposed Rule Changes: Rule 4.51.1: We do not like the standing start for Novice B. Part of the teaching process is to learn how to play and march at the same time. This also helps set and maintain the tempo leading into the competing circle.

New rule 4.58.3: Publication of adjudicator critique sheets has been proposed and rejected before. If accepted some adjudicators will probably be more likely to write only positive comments rather than an accurate critique, to avoid being criticised. The same would likely happen if audio recordings were introduced.

Notices of Motion: 1 There will be a discussion about maximum numbers – about time too! With only six Grade 1 bands in Scotland this is a serious issue which needs to be given serious thought. 2 Best Bass Section prize proposal: this was removed in an attempt to focus drumming adjudicator assessments on the full drum corps. However if there is a drum corps prize within the band context, why not a best B&T prize within the drum corps?

Finances: Reserves are back to over £800K. Well done to all concerned. The Scottish, European, UK and British Championships all ran at a loss (£8,185, £3,422, £71,175 and £865 respectively, the latter even though it did not take place). The massive loss for the UK Championships must have been met by the Association itself. 

There was a £39K profit from the Worlds and £63.5K from other trading activities which obviously helped overcome the deficit. The World Solo Drumming ran at a £9,317 loss. The Fundraising Officer idea certainly was not a success.

The cash situation could worsen with the new policy for the Association itself to meet part of the costs of Championships. We think the RSPBA needs a proper Business Plan with agreed targets and target dates, to be discussed and approved at the AGM.

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