Indoor Piping Quartets & Trios Contest, 26th February 2017
Dear All
I regret to advise that the above contest has had to be cancelled owing to lack of support.
With some two weeks to the date of the proposed contest, there are only
15 and 9 entries for the quartet and trio contests respectively. To put this in context there were 42 and 21 entries respectively for the contest which was held on the same weekend in February last year. Going further back, to when only quartet contests were held between 2010 and 2014, entries totalled 34, 37, 44, 38 and 49 respectively and our contest cost base during these years was much lower. You may recall that the 2015 contest was cancelled due to lack of support.
Historically, this first contest of the season has been the best attended of the indoor contests and has generated surpluses that have offset or mitigated against any modest deficits incurred running the other two indoor contests. However, in light of the low entry numbers, running the event this year might have incurred a deficit of circa £750 or more and in these circumstances my fellow office bearers and I concluded, very reluctantly, that it would be in the best interests of the branch to cancel the event.
To those bands and solo competitors, who have submitted entries, I can only apologise for your disappointment in not getting an opportunity to perform the tunes that you have been practising during the autumn and winter months. That disappointment is certainly shared by your branch officials and I am sure we all hope the indoor contest scheduled for Sunday, 9 April 2017 will be a resounding success. This will much depend, however, upon your support.
I am aware that a number of bands and solo competitors have sent cheques or made bank remittances in settlement of entry fees and you will be contacted individually as regards these cheques / payments. You can opt to allow the branch to hold the payments / cheques against future contest entry fees or have the cheques or payments returned.
Kind regards
Walter MacGregor
Chairman
This annual competition will take place this year at:
Malborough Science Academy,
Watling Street,
St Albans,
Hertfordshire,
AL1 2QA
Entry Forms
Click link to download the Quartets Entry Form
Click link to download the Trios Entry Form
Click here to download the Solo Piping Entry Form
Click here to download the Solo Drumming Entry Form