BCPA President Graham Davidson
I want to welcome all participants to the 88th BC Piper’s Association Annual Gathering. It is great that we can still participate and grow the music we love to play. I wish all the competitors the best of luck and look forward to congratulating the winners at the awards ceremony on April 17, prior to the ceilidh.
I would like to thank our international Judging panel of Robert Wallace, Chris Armstrong and Paul Brown. One of the traditions of the BCPA is to have distinguished judges attend and adjudicate our Annual Gathering competitions, and we appreciate these three for being part of our event. Please see their biographies elsewhere on this site.
This has truly been an exceptional year in the piping, drumming and pipe band world. While the pandemic prevents us from being together for this event, we are thrilled that the online competition has welcomed players from around the world, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, 12 US states and six Canadian provinces. This is the silver lining of this pandemic; the involvement of a global community in our BC event, playing and growing the music we love. However, next year, we hope to see all of you here in person..
I want to thank all the BCPA board members and the Annual Gathering committee for making this event possible. Especially, Moira Mack, Lynn Bullis, Rob MacNeil and Garth Newlands. This quartet has put in countless hours to ensure the 88th Annual Gathering takes place during this difficult year. As you know, last year’s AG was cancelled due to COVID-19. A year later, we are slowly moving forward to a new normal and hopefully will all be able to gather in person next year.
I hope you can join us for our virtual ceilidh on April 17th starting at 6:30 pm (PST) with the announcement of the Annual Gathering prizewinners. Following that, our ceilidh will begin, and our social committee has an evening filled with piping, singing, trivia and more. So please make a note on your calendar and register for the (free) event in advance. (Register HERE).
If you haven’t had the chance, and you can, please consider donating to the Boney Music Memorial Fund. http://donate.bccancerfoundation.com/goto/BoneyMemorial2021
If you would like to watch or re-watch the competition from 2020 you can go to Tartantown’s Facebook page. Terry Lee, Neil Dickie and Alastair Lee did an outstanding job of putting this all together for this year’s 2021 Boney Music event.
So, again thank you to everyone, and I look forward to seeing you at the ceilidh on April 17.
Graham Davidson, President
British Columbia Pipers’ Association
