When the BBC asked me to present at the World Pipe Band Championships, I thought it would make a nice change from damp patches and hairy mould.
Little did I know I’d become hooked from the moment I walked onto Glasgow Green.
So let me paint the picture for anyone who hasn’t been.
You might have seen coverage on television with Jackie Bird. But even she can’t do the two-day event justice.
Twenty odd thousand people were in attendance on Saturday, accompanied by the kind of heat you don’t normally associate with Scotland’s largest city.
Revellers meandered from gourmet haggis stalls to marquees serving cold beers, with churros, coffee, pizza and hot dog tents in between.
It was a spectacle in people-watching alone.
I’ve never seen so many cool looking people in kilts.
And I’ve rarely felt so proud to be Scottish.
It had the atmosphere to rival any festival I’ve been to. But – despite the heat – there wasn’t a ‘tap aff’, an al fresco wee or a drunken brawl in site.
Instead, there was a family-friendly, gentle buzz and sense of occasion – that we were all here to appreciate something wonderful.
And that something was the pipers and drummers who had flown from all over the world to take part.
Bagpipes touch the soul
This competition is the Olympics of Piping.
I interviewed Tripert and Tirath Singh who had taken two weeks off from their jobs as pilots to travel from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to join the Coalburn IOR Pipe Band to compete.
They were inspiring.
They’d played at the World Championships in Glasgow before with their own pipe band from back home – and were honoured to join the Scottish band, formed in the former mining village of Coalburn in 1884.
And despite fierce competition, Coalburn came fourth in their category. Fourth, that is, in the whole world.
Listening to the bands, something happened to me.
I went in loving the pipes.
My husband plays and my boys are learning. Give me a beautifully played Highland Cathedral and I’m a blubbering mess.
But immersing yourself with the best bands in the world is like watching a group of individuals resplendent in their tartans, breath as one organism.
There’s something about bagpipes that touch the soul and I was left wondering why.
Is it a deep genetic memory we have from our ancestors hundreds of years ago?
Or from our own memories of listening over the years?
Or as Tripert and Tirath said, is it just that the sound is so beautiful and stirring that it touches the core of everyone?
High School of Dundee’s pipe band saw their hard work pay off
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, some incredible news came in.
As anyone who works in the city centre will know, High School of Dundee’s own pipe band have been practicing hard and treating us to performances from the playground.
That hard work paid off when they were crowned first (in the world) in their juvenile category.
The triumph comes hot on the heels of them being crowned British champs.
A huge well done to Mr Wilton and his team of pupils and staff.
No one can guarantee such tropical weather again.
But if you fancy an amazing experience to stir the soul, I can’t recommend next year’s championship enough.
Martel’s short film will air on Sunday Morning Live, this Sunday on BBC1.
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