LATEST NEWS

2nd March 2010
SLOT 100TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER - TICKETS NOW ON SALE
To begin the celebration of our Centenary year, we are hosting a Dinner Dance on March 27th in the Springfield Hotel, Leixlip, Co.Kildare.
Present at the function will be invited guests, a mixture of past and present members of the band, along with friends and supporters.
A limited number of tickets are now available for general sale.
They are priced @ €50 per ticket.
The evening will entail some short presentation's, a performance by the band and a chance to buy our book which will be officially launched on the night.
There are also a number of tickets available for the afters (9.30 pm onwards), which are priced @ €10 each.

To arrange your tickets, please contact us :
Terry Tully -
or
Keith O'Malley -


1st March 2010 [UPDATED]
SLOT 2010
"The band" for the 2010 season..........minus a few members who couldn't be there for the photo.
Click on the images to enlarge.




8th February 2010
MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010 - JUDGING PANEL
The judging allocations for Grade One at the Major Championships for the 2010 season.



Scottish British
European
World - MSR
World - Medley
Cowal
P1
Lawrie
Hutcheon
Wark
Wilson
Campbell
Edgar
P2
Ronaldson
Sloane
Cardwell
Ingram
Dear
Moles
D
Parkes
Craig
Steele
Baxter
Russell
Noble
E
MacKenzie
Aitken
Clark
MacInnes
Snaddon
Shepherd



5th February 2010
PERSONAS - CUSTOMISE YOUR FIREFOX BROWSER
Personas are easy-to-install, easy-to-use themes that change the look of your Firefox web browser.
For SLOT fans,here's some samples..........click on any of the images below to go to the one of your choice.
** Please note : you must be running Firefox 3.6 to user them - click on the link to install it.








5th February 2010
KINGDOM THISTLE SOLO PIPING & DRUMMING
The Kingdom Thistle Solo Piping & Drumming Competition will be held on April 17th at Lochgelly High School.
It will feature events ranging from under-13 to Senior.
Closing date for entries is April 2nd.

Kingdom Thistle consists of a committee of non-playing pipe band members.
The organisation is led by Paul Brown, a drummer with St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band and a product of Bob Shepherd's famed Ballingry School system that was the basis of the Dysart & Dundonald, Lochgelly High School and Ballingry bands over the years.
 
"Fife has always been a breeding ground for successful bands over the years and some of the world's top bands past and present feature Fife players," said Brown.
 "Now we want to give young people from Fife the opportunity to play and feature in local events."

Download the entry form - here


2nd February 2010
ULSTER SOLOS - MONKSTOWN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
Please note the Ulster Solos will be held on the 17th April and not the 24th as previously indicated - this is because of another function in the school.
Entry form can be downloaded here


9th December
SLOT COLLAGE POSTER - CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF HISTORY
To celebrate the upcoming 100th anniversary of the band in 2010,we have put together a collage poster of images from the past one hundred years.
Perfect for dressing up any wall, this is the perfect size for maximum visual impact (35" x 23"), or instantly creating a theme for a room.
Images look great on this high-quality poster, printed on heavyweight 7 mil semi-gloss paper using superior dye inks.
Treat yourself or give as a gift.

  Now available to purchase direct from our Cafepress site.
  http://www.cafepress.com/slotpb.10073009

  Price :
  EU €21.50
  US $25.99
  UK £18.59


Click on the image for a larger version and to get a proper feel of how it will look.


27th October
WORLD SOLO DRUMMING - RESULTS
Congratulation to SLOT lead drummer, Stephen Creighton, on his placing at the recent World Drumming Championship in Glasgow........
and also to the other SLOT drummers that made into the semi finals - Conor McNally, Conor Sherry and Mikey McKenna.

Full results for all grades can be found on the RSPBA website


 Overall Result
 1 - Barry Wilson
 2 - Steven McWhirter
 3 - Gordon Brown
 4 - Blair Brown
 5 - Stephen Creighton
 6 - Reid Maxwell
 


MSR
1 - Barry Wilson
2 - Steve McWhirter
3 - Blair Brown
4 - Gordon Brown
5 - Stephen Creighton
6 - William Glenholmes

Judges: Gordon Craig, Greg Dinsdale, Jim Hutton, Ciaran Mordaunt
 
 
Hornpipe & Jig
1 - Gordon Brown
2 - Barry Wilson
3 - Steven McWhirter
4 - Stephen Creighton
5 - Reid Maxwell
6 - Blair Brown

Judges: Alistair Aitken, Jim Baxter, Gordon Parkes, Sandy Steele



12th October
SLOT - WORLDS 2009 - MSR
Found this on Youtube, definitely worth a look ;-)


The SLOT MSR..........Highland Wedding,Athole Cummers and MacAllister's Dirk



11th October
PIPER OF THE YEAR - ADAIR ARMS HOTEL,BALLYMENA  
Congratulations to Alen Tully on being crowned Piper of the Year with wins in both MSR and Hornpipe &Jig competitions, to Kevin Rogers who finished runner-up overall and also to Philip Tasker who was runner-up to Alen in the H&J.
Judge for all events was James Murry who also entertained the crowd with a recital.

MSR
1 - Alen Tully
2 - Kevin Rogers
3 - Andrew Carlisle
4 - Jonathan Greenlees
 
Hornpipe & Jig
1 - Alen Tully
2 - Philip Tasker

Piobaireachd
1 - Andrew Carsile
2 - Jonathan Greenlees
3 - Kevin Rogers


24th September
ST.LAURENCE O' TOOLE PIPE BAND - NEW GRADE 4B / DEVELOPMENT BAND BEING FORMED
Then this is the perfect opportunity to become part of one of the most successful pipe bands in the World today.
We are now setting up a development band with a view to competing in grade 5.
We are hoping to teach kids / young adults from scratch. All they need is enthusiasm !

Excellent tuition will be provided.

Please email us for more details -


21st September
ALL IRELAND SOLOS
Contratulations to Stephen Creighton and Kevin Rogers on winning the Senior Drumming and "B" Piobaireachd events.
Alen Tully and Rachel Corr for their runner-up spots in the Senior Piping and "B" Piobaireachd events, and to Paul Brown for his third placing in the Intermediate Drumming.

Click below to hear Stephen's winning MSR


To hear the rest of the performances from the Senior Drumming event - see Gus Sicard's website - www.gusweb.org


29th August
COWAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULT : GRADE ONE
Once again the band gave another solid performance at the final major of the year, which secured the runner up spot.
See the RSPBA site for full details of all grades.

1 - Field Marshal Montgomery
2 - St.Laurence O'Toole
3 - The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead
4 - Strathclyde Police
5 - Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia
6 - Scottish Power

Best Drums - The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead


15th August
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS : GRADE ONE
With a third place finish overall, SLOT became the first band in over a decade to break into the top three.
SFU annexed their second World's title in a row and also took the drumming for the second year in succesion.
The big news early in the day was the shock that the 78th Fraser's had not made it out of the morning qualifier.
Without a doubt,the greatest success of the event was the live streaming of the entire Grade One by the BBC - meaning those that unable to attend could experience the event from the comfort of their armchair......with a few bevvies,no doubt ;-)
Currently, the entire G1 medley selections from the final and the morning qualifier MSR's are available to view...........the MSR's from the final will be available soon.

To see the SLOT Medley and MSR in extremely high quality from the BBC webcast - click here

A review of the top bands is also available on Pipeline - hosted by Gary West and joined in studio by Andrew Berthoff.
Click below to hear an extract of the band from the program


Grade 1 Overall
1 - Simon Fraser University
2 - Field Marshal Montgomery
3 - St.Laurence O'Toole
4 - Strathclyde Police
5 - House of Edgar-Shotts & Dykehead
6 - Boghall & Bathgate

Drumming : Simon Fraser University

See the RSPBA site for full details of all grades.








26th July
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULT : GRADE ONE
Contratulations to our drum corps on being crowned European Champions for 2009 - their second win of the season
Well done to all ;-)
The band also gave another solid performance which secured second place overall.
See the RSPBA site for full details of all grades.


 Grade 1
 1 - Field Marshal Montgomery
 2 - St.Laurence O'Toole
 3 - The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead
 4 - Strathclyde Police
 5 - Scottish Power
 6 - Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia

 Best Drums - St.Laurence O'Toole






The SLOT performance..............once again,thanks to Alex at webwisewbusiness ;-)




4th July
ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIPS : RESULT
After two years of wins by SLOT, a third was not to be,unfortunately.
FMM reclaimed the title with wins overall in both MSR (ensemble preference) and Medley.
Congratulations to Stephen and his corp on retaining the drumming championship.

1 - Field Marshal Montgomery
2 - St.Laurence O'Toole
3 - Cullybackey
4 - Ballycoan

Best Drums - St.Laurence O'Toole
Best Bass & Tenor Section - St.Laurence O'Toole

The SLOT performance..............thanks to Damien Russell of Black Raven Pipe Band for the vid.



See the RSPBA site for full result details of all grades.


27th June
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULT : GRADE ONE
The band gave another solid performance at the second major of the year which secured third place overall.
See the RSPBA site for full details of all grades.

1 - Field Marshal Montgomery
2 - The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead
3 - St.Laurence O'Toole
4 - Strathclyde Police
5 - Scottish Power
6 - Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia

Best Drums - Field Marshal Montgomery


The SLOT performance..............thanks to Alex at webwisewbusiness for the vid........excellent quality ;-)




15th June
MID-ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS : COOKSTOWN
Result from the above competition held on Saturday 13th June.

Grade One
1 - St.Laurence O'Toole
2 - Cullybackey
3 - Ballycoan

Best Drums - St.Laurence O'Toole
Best Bass & Tenor Section -  St.Laurence O'Toole

The winning performance..............thanks again to broomhill1 on youtube for the vid ;-)



29th May
SLOT - FROM THE ARCHIVES
As this season sees the band play it's 20th year in what is considered the modern Grade One arena,an mp3 of the band's first foray into the grade from way back then seems pretty appropriate.

Recorded at the 1989 All-Ireland Championships in Newcastle,Co.Down.



The tunes : Allan Dall MacLeod - The Shepherd's Crook - The Boys Of Malin - Lord Ramsay's Reel - The Ass In The Graveyard - Paddy Clancy's Jig - Queen Of The Rushes : Jig - Queen Of The Rushes : Hornpipe


17th May
SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIPS,DUMBARTON - RESULTS
Contratulations to our drum corps on being crowned Scottish Champions for 2009 - all the more remarkable as this was the band's new MSR set getting it's first airing !
Well done to all ;-)
The band, as a unit, played extremely well on the day and finished a solid runner-up to FMM.
Thanks to Jason Lafferty for the pic below of L/D Stephen Creighton receiving the drumming award.

Full results for all grades can be found on the RSPBA website.

L/D Stephen Creighton receiving the drumming award.
  Grade 1
  1 - Field Marshal Montgomery
  2 - St.Laurence O'Toole
  3 - House of Edgar-Shotts & Dykehead
  4 - Strathclyde Police
  5 - Boghall & Bathgate
  6 - Scottish Power
  Best Drumming: St.Laurence O'Toole

  Judges:
  Andrew Wright and James Wark (piping), W. Goodall (drumming) and Alistair Aitken (ensemble)




The performance..........



SLOT ON YOUTUBE

Video footage of the band is now available on youtube.......spanning 1988 to 2009.

Go direct to our Youtube channels from the links below -

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=slotpb

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dubpiper
 


SLOT MERCHANDISE

Merchandise is available for both SLOT fans and the pipe band enthusiast alike.
Below is a small selection of what's available - please click on any image below for more details.
To see the full range click here