Grant Munro from Selkirk and James Gill from Galashiels were part of the triumphant Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band that upset the odds to win the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow.

Grant, 27, who is a garage manager in Selkirk, and 20-year-old hospital caterer James from Galashiels joined the band three years ago.

Both James and Grant, who was a member of the Tweedvale Pipe Band for a number of years, were coached by John Connor from Peebles.

John was with Shotts when they last won the World Championships a decade ago.

A total of 230 bands from 16 different nations, including New Zealand, Canada, USA, Oman and Malaysia, competed on Glasgow Green over the weekend.

And after a thrilling day’s Grade One competition the World title finally came back to Scotland after the 10-year drought.

James told us: “We knew we were playing well going into the World’s but it still came as a surprise when we won.

“The best bands in the world are there but we knew we had a chance after doing well in the medley.

“After we’d played we just went for a pint and tried to stay calm - it was really nerve-wracking. When they announced us as the winners everyone went wild.

“It was a great feeling and one that I won’t forget.” Hawick Pipe Band finished 11th in the Grade 4 competition, while Scottish Borders Pipe Band were 13th in Grade 3 and Innerleithen-based Tweedvale Pipe Band 12th in their qualifying group.

Tweedvale arrived in Glasgow just after 9.30am in order to prepare for their performance and found Glasgow pleasantly dry - the rain that had been affecting the west of Scotland had passed leaving sunny and breezy conditions, though underfoot conditions were definitely soggy.

Playing ninth out of 12 bands in the Grade 3B qualifying heat 1 contest, the band put in what appeared to be a reasonably confident and controlled performance of their March, Strathspey and Reel set.

When the results of the qualifying heats were announced mid-afternoon, Tweedvale had unfortunately not made the 12 band final.

The Grade 3B World Championship title was won by the Colmcille Pipe Band from Northern Ireland.

Consultation of the summary sheets after the prize-giving ceremony showed that the band had been placed 11th and 12th by the piping judges, 12th by the drumming judge and 12th by the ensemble judge leading to last place in the qualifying heat.

Tweedvale Pipe Major Bruce Gillie said: “It was a disappointing result on Saturday, but I was reasonably please with the performance itself.

“We have been away from the competition arena for a number of years and it will take us some time to get re-established as a competitive force, and we’ll have to take some disappointing result along the way while we get used to the contest discipline again.

“This season is about getting the band back out playing, not about winning prizes. We have three more competitions left this season and hopefully we’ll be able to put in good performances in each of them.” Whilst Tweedvale Pipe Band’s day out at the World Championships was marked with disappointment, two of the band’s alumni had markedly better fortunes. Michael Rutherford, now a tenor drummer with rival Grade 3B band Prestonpans RBL, won the Grade 3B World title for drumming with his corps and his band took sixth place overall.

Tweedvale’s competition season continues this weekend when the band travels up to Edinburgh to participate in the Edinburgh Pipe Band Championships. Held at the Royal Highland Centre Ingliston, Tweedvale is scheduled to play first out of six bands in the Grade 3 contest, and first out of eight bands in Grade 2 - both grades being Medley events.

The band’s medley set comprises the tunes “Bessie Weatherston”, “Wee Buns”, “Minnie Hynd”, “Lonely Loch Nan Eun”, “Because He Was A Bonnie Lad”, “The Wisemaiden” and “Dancing Feet”.

Following a brief break at the end of August, two local pipe band contests at Peebles and Innerleithen follow for Tweedvale Pipe Band.