Hark, hear the championships calling

"I just hope the weather is as good when they get to Glasgow."

Elspeth Forrest's sentiments were probably shared by not only the City of Timaru Highland Pipe Band members, but also the 300 to 400 people who turned up to see them perform for the last time before it heads to the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow later this week.

Mrs Forrest's accent left no doubts as to her Scottish origin, and she wasn't going to miss yesterday's opportunity to hear the band play.

And there were plenty of people like Mrs Forrest who weren't associated with the group, but were keen to turn out to hear them play.

Vans from several Timaru resthomes were parked on the Bay Hill, allowing residents to enjoy the concert and informal street march from The Terrace to the Piazza.

There were also the band supporters who reckoned they just about qualified to be going themselves, they had bought so many cheese rolls, bags of potatoes and raffle tickets to help the band with its travel fund.

The group had a fundraising target of $100,000 to pay for the airfares for the trip.

As well as the 24 pipers and 13 drummers, a further 20 family and friends are going with the band on the almost three-week-long trip.

There were comments about how smart the band members' new kilts looked.

Whatever their results at the championships, the Timaru band will be making New Zealand history as the first grade four band to ever compete at the world championships, which are usually the domain of top-grade overseas bands.