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History of the
Ashbourne Highland Gathering
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.
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Our First
Gathering Was On Saturday 22nd June 1985 |
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The First Chieftain Sir
Peter Walker-Okeover |
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. |
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