The day was blistering hot. The sweat poured off you. The sun burned fiercely. Another Charleston Scottish Festival in mid September! And was it worth it? You betcha. The band was hot in more ways than one.

Originally five Grade 5 bands were to compete but for some reason two bands backed out leaving only three competitors. Overall we had a good sound, played very well and finished with a second place finish behind a powerful Charleston Police Pipes & Drums. The comments from the four judges indicate we definitely are making good progress as compared to last year. We are still a growing band and one of the smaller ones and we competed against two considerably larger bands. Charleston had more drummers than we did pipers! For these games we fielded five pipers and four drummers (scheduling conflicts interfering with a key sixth piper).

Tampa Bay took first out of nine Grade 4 bands while City of Dunedin (FL) took first out of five Grade 3 bands. There were some excellent performances.
　
Two band members also competed in solo events. Robbie Rogers competed in three piping events including Piobaireachd. Our bass drummer, Gary Derbridge, competed in the Quick March Medley and for the first time took first place, beating some very good competitors. Congrats Gary!
　
Piper David Robertson brought his absolutely fantastic RV again. With the set up at Boone Hall Plantation, he parked the RV very close to the band tents. We were able to enjoy the benefits of the RV with some much-needed air conditioning. We even had an opportunity to practice with chanters and practice pads inside the RV. The downside? We almost missed the last massed bands, as we were relaxing watch the ’09 World Pipe Band Championship.