2014 will be a varied year for all our musical stars

The year ahead looks very exciting for all of the organisation's we are involved with. The City of Rochester Pipe Band are continuing their campaign to find new pipers to boost their ranks for the 2014 season. Congratulations to Stuart, a beginner who under the guidance of Mick Hicks, founder and former Director of Music for the band, has been playing simple tunes for the last few months and is gradually becoming a very competent piper.

Meanwhile, my colleagues at London and South East Region Air Cadet Pipes and Drums also look set for another busy and varied year. Under the joint direction of Flight Lt Dave Law, CI Dorothy Rochester, Major Jim Stout and Captain Brian Elrick, the band are becoming better every time.

In February, the band will be travelling to Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, where they will be performing in an event commemorating Armistice 100. They will also be travelling to Inverness in April to take part in the annual Cadet Beating Retreat.

Huge congratulations are in order for Jodie Melville, who is gradually moving from chanter to pipes, and is able to play basic tunes using a chanter.

We hope that in the future, the band will be taking part in the annual Berlin Tattoo. This will hopefully become a reality for them through a partnership that I am currently forming with Captain Stuart Samson of the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland. Please be aware that this link up is in the planning stages and nothing has been set in stone yet.

Many of you will now know that I am actively involved with former Britain's Got Talent finalist Hollie Steel, now dubbed as one of the finest classical singers in the country. There are many small organisations all over the world who work tirelessly to support Hollie in her career. Ours is the Hollie Steel Project. Run jointly with Grange Park @ Mid Kent College, we maintain contact with the family and assist with event organisation every now and then.

2014 looks set to be another varied year for Hollie with three brand new charity events already in the diary. We will release more information when it becomes available.


We hope you will stay tuned to our blogs for further updates and we look forward to working with these organisation's throughout the coming year.

Kind Regards
Christopher Nelson
Event Organiser and Founder, Hollie Steel Project