De La Salle Scout Pipe Band Lorient 2009

In the early hours of Friday morning July 31st 2009 thirty members and supporters of the De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band arrived in Lorient, Brittany in France to start what turned out to be a very enjoyable but exhausting ten days at the festival Interceltique de Lorient.

Having settled into their accommodation and figured where they were going to be fed during the trip, the band members attended day long rehearsals for the Nightly Concerts to be held during the festival. While these rehearsals were long and everyone ended up exhausted it was fantastic to see how a group of people who never had met or performed together before put together a performance which was to enthral an audience of 15,000 for the following five nights at the local football stadium.

On Saturday the band also commenced some intensive practice for the International Pipe Band Competition which was to be held at the end of the week.

Then on Saturday evening immediately after dinner the band commenced its preparations for the concert and this was to become the routine for each night the concert was held.

At ten o’clock each evening the concert, which was a spectacular combination of performances from all of the participating Celtic Nations commenced. The De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band played with the Irish Massed Pipe Band and played on three occasions each evening and enthralled the audiences with a brilliant display of piping and drumming. On one of the occasions the Irish were joined by all of the Scottish and Brittany Pipe Bands and played Amazing Grace.

Click to view a larger image.

Early Sunday morning the band was again on its feet and took part in the Grand Opening parade which was a two hour long parade through Lorient with ninety bands participating and entertaining an audience along the route of 200,000 people.

Before the parade commenced the band members became acquainted with some of the other performers in the parade.

Then at 11 o’ clock the parade moved off and De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band took its place in the last quarter of the parade.

Click to view a larger image.

The band played again on Sunday evening in a concert and by the time the day was finished everyone was fairly tired and were happy they had Monday off.

On Wednesday the band played in another parade to entertain the many shoppers who were about the city in the middle of the morning.

Click to view a larger image.

During free time the band members had an opportunity to tour around Lorient and its surrounding area including the beach which was a great haven for relaxation.

On Saturday the band competed in the International Pipe band competition and played a medley of tunes which impressed the judges.

The band finished off its week of performances with a parade in a nearby town who were also having a festival and then it was time to pack and get a late flight to Dublin followed by a bus journey to Waterford.

Click to view a larger image.

Entrance | Pipe Band | Band Selections | Band History

Guestbook | Questions | Site Map