It was quite the family affair when the 111-year-old City of Tauranga Pipe Band hosted the prestigious Central North Island Pipe Band Contest on Saturday, February 22.

“More than half our 34 members have relations in the band; either a parent, child, sibling or partner playing alongside them,” said City of Tauranga’s secretary Angela Kell, whose own children play in the band.

“It’s multi-generational and quite the age range; our youngest member is 20 and the oldest is 70. It’s a 50-year range of experience, right there.”

Bands from Waikato, Rotorua, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty were at Soper Reserve at Mount Maunganui on Saturday, with the street march starting from 10.30am from Aerodrome Rd into Newton St.

In the afternoon there were music events with each band performing a March, Strathspey and Reel musical display, then a medley and a massed band performance where everyone played together.

“Those are more traditional tunes that people will recognise,” said Kell. “Then it’s the turn of drum majors in the mace-flourishing contest, where you see them twirling and tossing the mace while commanding a band on the march.”

The City of Tauranga Pipe Band was competing in Grade 2 after winning the Grade 3 championship in 2023, then placing fourth overall last year.

“One of the key things is for the different sections of the band to be playing tightly as an ensemble,” Kell said.

“In the band, you have the side drummers, tenors, bass drummer and the pipers all working together. The blowing has to be steady and even, with the idea that the pipers mostly sound as one.”

The Central North Island Pipe Band Contest on Saturday at Soper Reserve, Newton St, Mount Maunganui ran from 10.30am-3.30pm with free entry.

This is the City of Tauranga Pipe Band’s local last competition before they head to the nationals – the 2025 New Zealand Pipe Band Championships – in Invercargill on March 7-8.

“This was our final chance to perfect various aspects of the performance in a competition setting,” Kell said.