



The National Council of Pipe Bands Australia (PBA) has removed the City of Whitehorse Pipe Band (CoWPB) from membership of the organisation.

The decision is a culmination of a series of events since December 2014, including the suspension in June 2016 of five members of CoWPB, following a finding of breaches by them of PBA’s Member Protection Policy, and them declining PBA’s invitation that they apologise for those breaches.

Whilst the members concerned have subsequently resigned, and CoWPB withdrew from membership of PBA in June 2016, as an act of goodwill PBA extended the grace period for membership renewal to CoWPB Band which it accepted, allowing it to compete at the 2016 Australian Championships.

Notwithstanding this, CoWPB further declined to accept certain conditions attaching to its participation in the Championships by allowing two of the five suspended members to participate in fine tuning on the contest arena, ignoring three requests from the Assistant Contest Supervisor and Contest Supervisor that those persons leave the defined area, resulting in CoWPB’s subsequent disqualification for a failure to observe instructions.

The ongoing conduct of the City of Whitehorse Pipe Band has been viewed with the gravest concern by National Council, particularly the impact of those actions on CoWPB’s players not in its leadership group. The Council has determined that such behaviour, given the ample time afforded to it to comply, will no longer be tolerated. As a result, the Band’s membership of PBA has been cancelled, and its players, with the exception of the five suspended members against whom penalties remain, are free to follow their musical pathways elsewhere.

Pipe Bands Australia re-affirms its commitment to a friendly and supportive environment for the creation of music, where individuals are able to enjoy the pipe band experience without fear of any actions contrary to the Member Protection Policy and where the rules and regulations are duly observed for the benefit of all.

The band and players were advised of the decision by National Council in advance of decision being announced.



