The Ottawa Branch Knockout finals were held on Saturday, February 23 at the Naval Officers’ Mess in downtown Ottawa, marking the end of this year’s Knockout series and a very successful winter solo competition season.
The events were judged by Ryan Canning (piping) and Andrew Lawson (drumming) of the House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band.
The winners of the final events were:
“A” Division Piping (Ottawa Folklore Centre Trophy): Walter McLeish “B” Division Piping (Ottawa Robert Burns Club Trophy): Kaj Sullivan Over-40 Piping (Joan Matthews-Khan Trophy): Ron Graham
Kaj Sullivan
“A” Division Drumming (MWO John B. Kerr Memorial Cup): Devin Roberts
“B” Division Drumming (B Division Drumming Trophy): James Johnson
Two new trophies were presented for the first time. The MWO John B. Kerr Memorial Cup for “A” Division Drumming was donated by members of Air Command Pipes and Drums and presented by Mr. Kerr’s daughter, Joanna Smith, of Almonte, Ontario. The Joan Matthews-Khan Trophy was donated by Ross Brown of Brown Bagpipe Supply and commissioned by the Branch for the “Over-40” piping event in honour of Mrs. Matthew-Khan’s enthusiastic support to the Branch.
Following the competition performances, Ryan Canning and Andrew Lawson performed a torrid recital before an overflow crowd, playing new competition material from Shotts as well as a series of crowd-pleasers and solos. The recital capped off a full day that began at 9:00 am with extremely well-attended group workshops.
Ryan Canning and Andrew Lawson perform a blistering recital
Raffle items were donated by Brown Bagpipe Supply, Pipes Drums, Brenda Bjarnason, Doug MacLeod and Chris Dodson. Ryan Canning kindly donated a set of his Canning Drone Reeds. Thank you to all of our generous donors.
Sylvie Bedard won the gift basket of assorted items and the Robertson family won the Canning Drone Reeds. Congratulations to our winners!
In addition to the regular raffles, a separate draw was held for a solo session with Ryan Canning and Andrew Lawson. Joan Matthews-Khan won the piping session and Jim Bush was the winner of the drumming session.
John Kerr’s daughter, Joanna Smith, presents the trophy to Devin Roberts
Andrew Lawson presents the Drumming B trophy to James Johnson
Joan Matthews-Khan presents the trophy to Ron Graham
Ryan Canning presents the trophy to Walter McLeish