Izmir, Turkey

Dave and Andy, accompanied by two Highland Dancers, were given the chance to visit Izmir and perform courtesy of the Hilton Group and British Airways.

The Hilton Hotel, Izmir had arranged a Scottish Food and Beverage Celebratory Week, durig May 1997. Performances were in the hotel's main restaurant over eight consecutive evenings, as part of their promotional activities. The performances included three separate twenty minute sets per evening, including piping in and addressing a haggis.

The city itself is vast, with around four million residents, and the hotel is by far the tallest building in this city, affording the most magnificent views in every direction. Our nightly performances spanned the thirty minute period it took for the sun to set over the Aegean Sea. This proved to be an extreme exercise in concentration, trying to continue playing whilst Mother Nature changed the colours around you. This spectacle was only equalled by the 5 am sunrise and the call to worship. You have to live it to believe it.

We made so many good friends during our stay that the Williamwood Pipe Band decided to hold a concert in aid of the Turkish Earthquake Victims in 2001 / 2002 and donated the proceedings to a Celtic youth group in Yoliva. This donation enabled the group to replace uniforms that had been destroyed during the earthquake. The Group went on to win the National Music & Performance Championships of Turkey, which they state would not have been possible without the financial assistance from the Williamwood Pipe Band and the Mercy Corps.