Ashley Gardens Care Home raised £1010.50 for the Friends of The Eastbourne Hospitals; it was fine weather for the
get-together inspired by the area churches. Eastbourne's pipe tradition has its roots in St Andrew's Church, Blackwater Road.
Two Taiwanese English students, planning a trip to Scotland couldn't resist a photo opportunity with a piper on their host
family's doorstep.
In July, the bell tolled for 88-year-old Hilda Rose Creffield, a pipe major of the famous Dagenham Girl Pipers in the 1950s, and
veteran of their national and international touring before the war, and war service
concerts. She was in the band for the six month Merrie England performances at the New York world's fair in 1939, where an American reporter joked, "The girl pipers left school at 14, not because they were smart, but because there was no more school!"
In August, the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games in the Bird's Nest Stadium was a dream come true for the Mains of Fintry Pipe Band of Dundee. The story goes, a Chinese official spotted this amateur band in France, and picked them to play. At first, they thought the e-mail was a joke!
At the RNLI's fourth three-day regatta, the harbour quays and locks echoed to Skye Boat Song, piping out the competitors.
Another 1970s Eastbourne Scottish Pipe Band stalwart passed away this summer. Jess Taylor was band secretary, and from 1980 and for many years pipe major. His grandfather was an East Dean shepherd. He made plumbing his trade, eventually joining East Dean and Friston Parish Council. He saw through the pipe band centenary
celebrations at York House Hotel in 1998, and compiled a band history, which was
published in the Eastbourne Herald. He was a bandsman for more than 40 years. Piper Ian White played My Home and The Day Thou Gavest at the service at All Saints Church.