Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band to compete in world championship
Won first place at Glengarry games last Saturday
The Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band is travelling to Scotland this weekend to vie for gold in an international piping competition.
This trip to the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow is a first for the group, which has seen success at a number of competitions in the past year.
Drum major and OPS Inspector Chris Renwick says the band’s recent accolades prompted it to make the leap to the international competitive stage.
“This is huge for the police service to have their band going to play in the international competition in parallel to other bands from around the world,” says Renwick.
For the band, he says, the championship isn’t simply a chance at glory — it’s also an opportunity to gain international exposure.
On Aug. 17 and 18, it will compete at the grades 2 and 4 levels against some 225 other bands. (Bands are ranked by regulatory boards on a scale of 1 to 5. Grade 1 is the highest skill level.)
The OPS band only achieved the Grade 2 level last year, “quite an accomplishment for the police service and eastern Ontario,” says Renwick, as few Canadian bands have achieved the higher levels.
In the competition, the band has to get through two qualifying rounds of upbeat medley-playing before the final, where it will perform a more traditional march.
Rehearsals have been taking place three times a week, with individual members practising hours daily, says Renwick.
The team will also have a full week of rehearsal in Glasgow before the competition kicks off.
The band’s recent track record bodes well. It is riding high off its win at Saturday’s Glengarry Highland Games, as well as first-place showings at every competition it has attended in Ontario this year. The band also had the delight of performing on stage with Paul McCartney during his recent visit to Ottawa.
The OPS Pipe Band has been representing the service in ceremonies and competitions since 1969.
Renwick describes the piping as a “family thing” whereby parents pass the tradition down to their children and, sometimes, play in the band together. There is currently one father-son and one father-daughter duo in the band.
When people join the band, they tend to stay for good, adds Renwick. The group’s 74 musicians — 60 of whom will be travelling to Glasgow — range in age from 16 to 83. The oldest has been with the band for more than 28 years.
Forty family members and supporters are flying to Scotland with the team cheer them on.
You can watch the championship live at theworlds.co.uk.