Tattoo for kilted coppers

The Auckland Police Pipe Band recently returned from Scotland, having performed in the prestigious 2007 Edinburgh Military Tattoo, seen by millions of people.

The trip was the culmination of two-and-a-half years planning after the band first received an invitation to attend the Tattoo in 2005.

Constable Jane Hope, says the band is the first to represent New Zealand Police at the international event.

The Auckland Police Pipe Band rehearses on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle

“The Tattoo is seen by an audience of more than 217,000 people each year, not to mention the television audience - estimated at 100 million people - and the sales of DVDs and videos.”

Jane says the band arrived in Edinburgh on 26 July and were accommodated at the Redford Infantry and Cavalry Barracks.

After a couple of days of settling in, rehearsals commenced alongside the pipe bands of the Scottish Regiments - The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, The Black Watch 3rd Battalion Royal Highland Regiment, The Royal Corps of Signals, 2nd Battalion Royal Gurkah Rifles and Scottish Universities Officer’s Training Corps. The band of the Royal Army of Oman from the Middle East and the Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia also took part.

Rehearsals were held on the parade grounds at the Barracks during the day, before moving up to the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle in the evenings.

Jane says the bands received the Tattoo music in January.

“It was now time to put it all together as a ‘massed’ band, learning and perfecting the display - a formation of a Scottish thistle. Rehearsals with the massed pipes and drums and the military brass bands took up most of the first three days.

“Public performances of the Tattoo started on 2 August with a dress rehearsal, before the opening night on 3 August in a gale-force wind. All up, there were 24 shows, each in front of a 9000 strong audience.”

The Band also took part in the massive Edinburgh Cavalcade along Princes Street, a street march in Glasgow, ‘mini tattoos’ at the Bank of Scotland Head Office and Dewar’s Distillery in Aberfeldy - both major sponsors of the Tattoo - and performances at local schools.

“We also managed to get to Glasgow and stood in the pouring rain to hear the best bands in the world competing at the 2007 World Pipe Band Championships.”

Jane says getting to Scotland involved a huge amount of commitment and effort from all members and the band’s executive committee.

“In the three months before departure, the band practiced twice a week to perfect the music and had two weekend drill (marching) practices. The hard work paid off, as we received very favourable comments from the Tattoo organisers regarding our professionalism and enthusiasm while in Edinburgh."