BE IT by high road or low road, a Border school group will travel a rare path when it heads to Scotland next week.
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The Scots School Albury Pipe Band will perform in this year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, one of just four Australian bands and the only school players.
In fact, only two other Australian schools have ever taken part in the world-famous event, according to pipe band co-ordinator Scott Nicolson.
Mr Nicolson said the five-week trip had been 18 months in the planning and evolved after the band applied to take part when the Tattoo came to Melbourne.
“We got a ‘Thanks, but no thanks’, followed by a ‘How would you like to come to the real one instead?’,” Mr Nicolson said.
As part of the massed bands, the Scots group expects to appear three times in the nightly program “rain, hail or shine”.
“The kids have put a tremendous amount of hard work in to get to the standard that they need to be,” Mr Nicolson said. “Hard work and discipline is something that the band thrives upon.”
A final fundraising concert, The Sounds of Scotland, at Albury Entertainment Centre on Saturday night will premiere a work composed by Scots student and pipe major Sebastian Turner, Salute To Albury’s Own.
The touring party comprises 20 students from years 5 to 12, five guest players, such as past students, two teaching staff and the band manager.
Two of the travellers, tenor drummer Isabella Plunkett, 15, and piper George Henderson, 17, said they were excited ahead of the 25 Tattoo performances.
“The first night, walking out is going to be amazing,” Isabella said.
The Tattoo music arrived in February and the band has completed two five-day camps in addition to their regular, and extra, rehearsals.
As well as the Tattoo, the Scots pipe band will participate in four competitions including the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow.
School work will be completed during the trip, with the Scots teachers organising a lot of online resources.
George, a bagpiper for nearly nine years, said the risk of disrupting his school year did not deter him from joining the band tour.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said. “You ask what you did in year 11, ‘I played in The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo’, not many people get to say that.”