THE members of 25th Stirling (Dunblane) Boys’ Brigade Band have had a very successful fortnight, culminating with a trophy at the Boys’ Brigade’s Scottish Bands Contest in Glasgow on Saturday.

They won the Contest Class and were then promoted to the Championship Class, in which they played again later and managed to come second of four bands in that category.

Twenty-eight boys are in the band and played a variety of music, including the Fantasmic Fanfare, A Disneyland Celebration, the aptly-named Dunblane Drums salute, Palladio (slow march) and our newly-composed band signature, ‘25th Stirling March to Malawi’ written by Robert Cowan of the eventual championship winning band, 1st Tulliallan.

In previous weeks, it had gained recognition for its hard work and improvements by gaining a First Class Certificate at the Perform in Perth Festival and a Silver Plus Award at the finals of the Scottish Concert Bands Festival, both held at Perth Concert Hall.

These are all great achievements, given that most of the boys only started to play a musical instrument through The Boys’ Brigade and many do not receive any other private or school tuition.

On Friday evening, a team from Dunblane had won the Braveheart Trophy in Stirling & District Battalion’s Drill Competitions, held at Alva Academy.

The squad of 12 boys had worked on a tricky selection of drill manoeuvres requiring close teamwork, coordination, timing and precision, impressing the visiting judges from Falkirk & District Battalion.

The trophy was awarded by Battalion President, MSP Alexander Stewart, seen presenting it to Jack McDiarmid.

On Friday, March 31 the Junior Section is having a ‘bring a friend’ night and boys in P4-P6 are welcome to come along to the Cathedral Hall between 6.15-7.45pm.

Those who are not existing members must be ‘signed in’ and contact details for a parent given to a BB leader on arrival.

For more information, please call 01786 821387 or email info@dunblanebb.org.uk.