Ashbourne Highland Gathering

The History

In 1976 Ashbourne Pipe Band was formed to allow members to meet together to play simply for pleasure. Soon they were being asked to undertake public engagements. As the band had more exposure so more members joined - coming from a wider geographical area and so 'and District' was added to the name of the band.

In the late 1970's many pipe band competitions were held in widely scattered parts of England, and the band became involved in competing. In the main these events were fairly poor, and badly organised, and the members of Ashbourne Pipe Band felt that they 'could do it better', especially since they had an ideal site.

In 1983 planning began, and in Summer 1985 the first Ashbourne Highland Gathering was held. It was organised by members of the Ashbourne Pipe Band Committee, and almost entirely funded by them, with a little additional funding from local companies.

The first Gathering lost £900, but the second broke even. The first Chairman, Alistair Brown, retired to Argyll in Scotland, and the current Chairman, David Frith, took over in 1987.

As the event became more successful and more time-consuming the Ashbourne Pipe Band Committee decided that their main interest must be to promote excellence within the band, and so a committee was formed in 1987 specifically to organise the Gathering, comprising willing volunteers who had helped in the first two years, and shown initiative in developing the event.

The event has continued successfully since then, and is now run by a committee formed in 2000 as the company, Ashbourne Highland Gathering Ltd. The original committee members became the unpaid directors of the Company, and the Company's mission is to promote the music and culture of Scotland. The Company does not run the Gathering for profit, the net income each year being partly retained for investment in the following year's event, and the rest being donated to local charities.

A Chieftain is appointed for every Gathering, our first Chieftain was Sir Peter Walker-Okeover (pictured left).

While the role is nowadays an honorary one, originally, some of the events which now comprise a Gathering would be organised to determine positions in the Chieftain's Clan. For example the winners of each event, now known as the Heavy Events were offered positions in the clan army. This would have been a great honour to the individual who would then enjoy a much better standard of living.

A hill run was also arranged to find the fastest men available to run with messages across the wild and mountainous Highland countryside, either in battles, or for peaceful reasons.

Some of the Highland dances are very old and go back to ancient rites in celebration of marriage, fertility, victory or defeat, joy for the living or lament for the dead. The male dances show a definite leaning towards the warlike, with dirks and swords playing a prominent part. Of course the most famous dance is the Sword Dance or the Gillie Callum. This could well be the oldest of the Scottish dances, performed centuries ago on the eve of battle as a means of relieving tension, exhibiting self-control, and seeking an omen for the forthcoming battle. Dislodging the sword during the dance was considered a bad omen though nowadays this slip of footwork will only see you eliminated from competition.

Bagpipes were and are used by the Scots to stir their men into battle and put fear into their enemies. Pipers have on many occasions distinguished themselves on the field of battle and several have been awarded the Victoria Cross. Pipe Band Contests are recorded way back as far as 1905.

To begin with they were very disorganised, so in 1930 the Scottish pipe Band Association, responsible for overseeing piping competitions throughout the world, was formed. Now the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, it chose Ashbourne as the venue for the English National Championships in its Diamond Jubilee Year, 1990.

The Pipe Band Competition attracts many bands and there is no more stirring sight than that of the massed bands marching into the main arena to play the traditional salute to the Chieftain, and the finale of the Gathering.

The Ashbourne Highland Gathering had an unbroken run for 24 consecutive years, but fell victim to the weather in 2009 and was cancelled due to the recreation ground being waterlogged.