UNIFORM DETAILS AND MAINTENANCE
Refer to pages 65–68 of the RSPBA Dress Manual for any clarification needed. Also refer to the 1995 AFPBA Drill and Dress Manual.
Glengarry
• Glengarries should be kept clean and tidy with no sweat stains visible.
• Ribbons should be ironed.
• Glengarry should be worn one inch above the eyebrows, with a tilt one finger width to the right eyebrow.
• Ribbons should hang down back of head in centre.
Shirt
• Shirts should be clean and ironed.
• Keep shirt silver buttons and epaulette slides (if applicable) on at all times – that way, if a player must remove their jacket, they will look nice and tidy.
Tie
• Keep tie clean and ironed.
• Preferably tie a ‘Windsor’ knot at the neck.
• The bottom of the tie should reach the top of the kilt or belt buckle.
• The thin ‘tail’ of the tie should be kept in the tag at back of the tie, and not in the shirt – unless it is too long, for example on junior members of the band.
Kilt
• Kilt should be pressed, clean, and free of lint – use a piece of packing tape to press any lint off.
• Bottom of kilt should cut across knees when standing at attention.
• Keep a centre set of lines in the kilt.
Kilt Pin
• Kilt pins, when worn, should sit on right-front apron, within 13cm up and 8cm in from the edge of the apron, measured by the centre of the kilt pin.
Waist Belt
• Waist belts should be cleaned and polished (do not use black shoe polish – use ‘Waproo’ Shoo Glo to get previous polish off, then use ‘Kiwi Leather Express Applicator’, follow product instructions for both, then clean off with soft cloth).
• Clean and polish all silver buckles with silver cleaning cloth to gain shine.
Sporran
• Sporran should be worn with chain or leather strap comfortably in groin with sporran bag hanging centred in middle of kilt.
• Follow an imaginary line down through shirt buttons, buckle and sporran and also keep a centre line with the ‘set’ of the kilt.
• If in need of cleaning, follow instructions for waist belt above – keep silver chains clean with silver cloth.
• Side and tenor drummers: wear your sporran bag on your right-rear rump. If you wear your sporran bag at the front as directed, it should swing around to ideal position and again everyone should seem to wear it in the same position.
Hose
• Keep hose washed and clean.
• Keep a seam on shin bone.
• Hose turnover should be uniformly even through band – generally hose have a top turnover for guidance.
• Don’t pull hose up over knees, as they will stretch out of shape.
Flashes
• Flashes should be no more than 5cm from under the turnover of hose and one finger width to the outside of the shin bone as a guideline, so all band members wear in the same position uniformly.
Shoes
• Shoes should be kept polished – again do not use black shoe polish, use ‘Kiwi Leather Express Applicator’ and soft cloth.
• For tying Ghillie Brogues, follow these steps to get as close as possible to full uniformity throughout the band.
Step 1: Pull laces as tight as possible on shoe.
Step 2: Stretch laces apart. Then cross over three times as close as possible to top of shoe.
Step 3: This crossing should be firm and straight and in line of shin bone.
Step 4: Take laces around each side of ankle, just above the ankle bone on each side, and cross over at back.
Step 5: Then bring laces to front and cross over at shin above the 3 tie.
Step 6: Take laces around to back again higher up and cross over.
Step 7: Hold one lace and take the other lace to front around back of leg higher up again and at side of leg and tie with ordinary “shoe lace” tie, making sure you make two neat loops.
Note: To make the final tie and bow, it may be better and neater to make one lace longer than the other, so that the lace going around in Step 7 would finish up the same length as the other lace.
Jacket
• Keep jackets clean and tidy and free of lint – polish silver buttons with silver cloth.
• No polish liquid should be used.
• Use clothes brush or packing tape to remove any lint.