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KCPB – Deep in the heart of Lerwick
“I
SO much want to join in!” exclaims one Kirkwall City Pipe Band side drummer over
my shoulder. What Thorfinn Tait (for it is he) wants to join in is all the
chanting and cheering and singing that we have learned throughout the day is an
integral – and infectious – part of Up-Helly-Aa. “Three cheers for the Orkney
pipe band!” they cry as they file past with blazing torches thrust high in the
January night sky. Choruses of the Up-Helly-Aa Song and The Galley Song drift
through the ranks of colourfully dressed guizers as they wind through the
streets of Lerwick on this most awesome of evenings.
The ranks of KCPB and Lerwick Legion Pipe Band members are in
the heart of the Up-Helly-Aa procession and we are waiting to file into the
Burning Site, something that no other pipe band has ever done before. Hardly
anyone bar the squad members, and some local press, gets so close to the galley
as the hundreds of guizers hurl their torches into it, turning it to cinders in
a startling short space of time.
The burning is the culmination of the evening procession of
this year’s Up-Helly-Aa, Tuesday, January 29, and we Kirkwall City members who
had never seen the fire festival before could not have prepared ourselves for
the spectacle that unfolded as we gathered at Lower Hillhead, below Lerwick Town
Hall, for the muster. Playing through the ranks of singing guizers with their
unlit torches was a big enough buzz – but the march through the burning torches,
with the singing, the chanting, the smoke and the flames is something I for one
will never forget – truly spectacular.
Our special role in this year’s Up-Helly-Aa was, of course,
down to Guizer Jarl Roy Leask, and his daughter, Rona Harcus, now married and
living in Kirkwall with husband Colin and youngest guizer in the Jarl’s Squad
18-month-old Euan.
We made the most of the build-up to the big night, flying up
on Saturday and immediately finding that half the travelling party is invited to
the Galley Shed to see the Billhead for the Proclamation Board unveiled. This
turns out to be a stunning painting of longships heading for Orkney, passing
Foula on the way. This is all part of the saga of Roy’s Jarl character, Kol
Kalison – father of St Rognvald (Kali Kolson) – the man who oversaw the building
of St Magnus Cathedral. Roy’s theme has links with Maeshowe also, in the shape
of the Maeshowe Dragon design on the galley.
The following day we were involved in the 73-strong Jarl’s
Squad’s trip to Yell to have their photograph taken on Breckon Beach. This has
been a favourite for family visits, and is also the name of Roy’s dog, and this
year his galley.
Monday was more of a band day, with a well-supported
performance around the Market Cross, and a highly-emotional concert at the
Garrison Theatre. During this concert, our performance of ‘Caledonia’ is
dedicated to Karen Aim, whose funeral is due to take place in Holm the next day.
Her father, Brian, has written to the band asking permission to play the song at
the service. Few, if any, band members make it through the song without shedding
a tear.
Another visit to the Galley Shed on Monday evening sees
members get a sneak preview of the Proclamation, with all its digs at local
folk, and references to Roy Leask’s work and family. Even the Kirkwall City gets
a mention.
I have tried not to mention the weather too much, as it
wasn’t that startling for the majority of the trip. Pipe Major Raymie Peace,
whose ‘self-management’ regime got most band members through the week, also
preached ‘positive mental attitude’ in the face of driving rain and wind.
Thankfully Roy Leask had obviously been in touch with the
Norse god of weather for Tuesday, and it was a brilliant day from start to
finish, right through into a frosty Wednesday morning.
With the procession and galley burning still a long way off,
the day started with the KCPB and Lerwick Legion Pipe Band members leading the
vocal Jarl’s Squad, complete with horns to blow, from the Shetland Hotel through
the town, stopping off at Roy’s building firm DITT, the Toll Clock Shopping
Centre, the Legion, and on the Alexandra Wharf, where the Jarl’s Squad have
their photograph taken with the galley. A massive crowd had gathered by now, and
the march from the harbour up through the historic Fort Charlotte, into the
wintry sunlight, was an experience in itself as we led the Jarl’s Squad to the
Town Hall.
The Junior Jarl’s Squad was then led by the pipe band through
the narrow streets of Lerwick, proving every bit as vocal as their seniors!
And then, just before the evening’s events, we had a special
performance at the new Shetland Museum and Archive, and a highlight for Roy
Leask, as the band played on the water’s edge, and on the very spot where he
served his time as a joiner.
Roy, whose firm DITT was the main contractor for the museum,
explained: “That was a very special moment for me. That was where I served my
apprenticeship with the late Peter Tulloch. He had a workshop there and we used
his shed when we were doing the job last year. It was flattened and became the
hardstanding where the band played.”
Having invited the KCPB to be part of his year as Guizer
Jarl, how did he think it had gone?
“You have peedie bits of ideas of what it might be like, but
I think it was ten times better than I could ever have imagined. It is a once in
a lifetime event, and it was a great day for myself and for the whole family. To
have Rona there as Pipe Major for the day was really great.”
With several events still to come for the Jarl’s Squad during
the year, Roy hopes that one trip they can make is to Orkney sometime in the
summer, for an event with the KCPB at the heart of that visit.
Daughter Rona has her own memories of a special day.
“I have waited 13 years for this big day, and there has been
so much of a build up that it could be nothing but special. We have worked hard
to make it a special day for Dad, and when he invited the Kirkwall City to be
part of the whole thing, that made it even more special.
“My highlight was the museum visit, because it was such a
beautiful day. It was a pleasure to play there and that is the first time the
Jarl’s Squad has visited there, because it was just completed last year.
“The fact that Dad’s firm DITT were the contractors there and
he was the first Jarl to visit just added to the occasion.
“Of course, being among the torches at night and sharing that
with all my pals in the Kirkwall City was great, and seeing Dad’s silhouette in
the galley up ahead was a great feeling as well. It was fantastic having such a
big pipe band as part of the procession, and everybody was so welcoming. We had
made a good name for ourselves with the performances and concert earlier in the
week.”
KCPB Pipe Sergeant Andy Cant was similarly impressed with the
whole Up-Helly-Aa experience. “We achieved what we set out to do, and that was
to make Up-Helly-Aa different this year for Rona’s dad. We put in a lot of work
and practice and that all paid off. I think the overall feeling was that we made
a big difference to their Up-Helly-Aa and that it was much appreciated by them,
and we were really welcomed into the heart of it all.”
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