Cudgee’s Erin Russell was just six when she decided to learn the bagpipes, and seven years of hard work has paid off after a championship win.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Erin, who plays for Warrnambool and District Pipes and Drums Band, was asked to also join Hawthorn City Pipe Band and in December started regularly travelling to Melbourne.
Hawthorn’s grade two win at the Australian Pipe Band Championships in Brisbane this month makes it Australia’s top competition pipe band.
Australia’s only grade one band did not compete.
At 13, Erin is one of the youngest pipers to ever play with a winning Hawthorn band.
In the lead-up to the Australian championships, Erin had to compete at Victorian band competitions with Hawthorn three times - on one occasion playing for both Hawthorn and the grade four Warrnambool band on the same day.
She also played with the Hawthorn band for a wedding at the Crown Casino Palladium. Erin will continue to play for both bands and will join Hawthorn if they go to the world championships in Scotland next year.