YOUNG people from Kilmacolm will proudly represent their area as the British Pipe Band Championship come to Inverclyde this weekend.

St Columba's School's pipe band are one of two groups from the district taking part in this Saturday's tournament, with the Lower Clyde Pipes and Drums also participating. 

Teams from across the UK will take part in the weekend's competition at Battery Park, which is the first 'major' of the piping season.

St Columba's pipe and drumming programme director Gordon Bruce told the Tele that the band can't wait.

He said: "This is the school's first year competing in all five major championships.

"Just before the pandemic we played at the British Championships for the first time in 2019.

"We had a successful day - we came second as a band and our drum corps won best in the group.

"We were looking forward to the following season and doing the five majors when the pandemic struck.

"On Saturday we'll be playing in the novice juvenile category, which is one of the biggest with 17 bands competing.

"It's basically a completely new band from the team that played in the British Championships in 2019.

"We went online during the pandemic so they've had time to gel together, but out of our band of about 35 around 30 of them will be competing in their first ever major.

"We'll give it our best and we'll have a good time, that's all that matters."

The school are also planning on a trip to Lurgan in Northern Ireland in a fortnight's time to compete in the UK Championship.

They will then make the long journey up to Inverness to take part in the European Championship in June.

After that the young pipers will be heading over to Dumbarton in July to play in the Scottish Championships, and then finally going to Glasgow for the World Championships in August.

Lead drummer Matt Makin said: "It's a great environment in the band, we know when we need to be serious and when we can have a laugh.

"I've been drumming since primary five, my brother was in the band so I went along with him.

"The last competition I did was the British in 2019 when the drummers came first.

"Coming back again as lead drummer for the first competition of this year was good and we had decent results.

"I'm excited to get back into the swing of things."