Master in Charge:
Mr Damien Pitman
(dpitman@jeppeboys.co.za)
Piping Tutors:
Mr Brandon Holz
Mr Matthew Keyzer
Mr Damien Pitman
Drumming Tutors:
Mr Steve St Clair Hall
Ms Amy-Sue Lithgow
Mr Mandlenkosi Ndabula
Mr Noncebo Khanyile
The Jeppe Pipe Band is the oldest school pipe band in South Africa. The band won the South African Pipe Band Championships in 2014 and there has since seen a huge increase in membership, resulting in the band having to form two competition bands. Over the last few years, the band has become well-renowned in South Africa, as well as internationally.
The band plays regularly at functions around South Africa, including weddings, funerals, birthday parties, and corporate functions. The band has played at several high-profile events over the past couple of years, including The Nedbank Golf Challenge and the Princess of Monaco’s Father’s 60th birthday celebration at Emperor’s Palace.
The highlight of 2016 was undoubtedly the much-anticipated overseas tour to Basel, Switzerland, to participate in the world-famous Basel Tattoo, second only to the Edinburgh Tattoo in terms of size and attendance. Our invitation was a rare honour, as we are only the second school band in history to take part in this prestigious event. Such was the interest in the band from Africa that Jeppe was the featured band leading up to the opening of the show. A video series called ‘The Road to Basel’ documented our preparations in the months leading up to the Tattoo. This exposure, together with the nightly sold-out shows of 10 000 people, and a street parade before 150 000 people, ensured that the Jeppe experience was shared with many thousands of people. The band members enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience, performing before a combined global audience of 400 000 people, while experiencing something of life in France, Germany and Switzerland.
Jeppe has great pride in the Jeppe Pipe Band, and we anticipate decades of continued growth and success.
The Jeppe Pipe Band hosted their annual Highland Gathering on Saturday 13 May. The day included weather which one could only describe as “authentic highland weather” – the temperature plummeted to minus 1 in the early morning and only rose to a high of 8 degrees by 13:00 and the rain pelted down throughout the day.
In saying that though, the gathering was attended by our ardent supporters and the Jeppe Pipe Band are forever grateful for those who attended and enjoyed the experience.
Bands from around the country attended the gathering, including the Knysna and Districts Pipe Band and St Johns, all the way from Harare, were present as well. Thank you to the all of the bands and dancers that attended our event, we truly appreciate you all.
Although the cold, wet conditions drove the proceedings indoors, the standards were high, the competition fierce and those who attended were well entertained.
The Highland dancing was held in the Paine Hall, and the pipe bands performed in the Memorial Hall in the end.
The Jeppe school band cleaned up in the awards. They were adjudged the best juvenile band overall, and took the titles in the drum corp, bass section, march, ensemble and piping categories.
The overall results were:
Juvenile Bands:
1st Jeppe Juvenile
2nd St Benedict’s Juvenile
3rd Pretoria Boys Juvenile
Novice Juvenile Bands:
1st Cornwall Hill Novice Juvenile
2nd KES Novice Juvenile
3rd Jeppe Novice Juvenile
4th St Benedict’s Novice Juvenile
5th Pretoria Boys Novice Juvenile
The pipe band would like to thank our wonderful parents committee for the massive amount of work which they put into making this day a success.
