At Pitt Street

Petition poster handover went well with no arrests and a good turnout of press. Hopefully we will get a decent show in the media tomorrow and tonight but whatever the outcome it was worth doing. I asked the guy at the Pitt Street HQ reception to hand over the poster to Mr House the Chief Constable. Let's hope he takes the sentiment it displays on board. Stuart McMillan the MSP was there with me and Willie Park piped. Bemused looks from passersby and various cops as they went about their duties. I made the point to the Press Association girl that.....well you've read it all before. Let's see what happens now. I say again - the Worlds next year without the police band is a real possibility.
I hope you all like the poster and thanks to Hugh Clarkson for making it up for us free of charge.
Someone asked me what the PT gets out of doing this sort of thing. Not a lot really save the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing something that is right. If the Piping Times cannot campaign to help save this band then it is not worth the paper it is printed on. Silence from many quarters of the piping and pipe band world is deafening mind you. Some heads are so far below the parapet they must be eating worms. But I am quite happy to put the magazine in the firing line for the good of piping, all sanctimony aside.
The PT and its readers got very little credit for bringing the television cameras to the Worlds and now we are having them streamed live over the internet. It is nice to be right about something once in a while. We can of course gauge the strength of a magazine by the pressure it can exert. We won the BBC fight and we will continue to do whatever we can for the police band. I am sure our readers would expect nothing less. Thanks again to all those who took the trouble to sign the petition.