IT is an instrumental part of the Braw Lads’ Gathering celebrations.

And one of its members, Cameron Pate, led this year’s festivities.

But Galashiels Ex-Service Pipe Band, which celebrated its centenary in 2001, is facing an uncertain future.

It follows the announcement that Gala Day Services Ltd, the company behind its weekly meeting place at The Hive, Low Buckhomside, has called in the liquidators.

And now fears have been voiced that the band, which also performs at other local festivals, international rugby matches and remembrance day parades, could be made homeless and forced to disband unless a new home can be found.

All the groups who use the centre have been given until the end of the month to clear out.

But, while the pipe band has been offered a temporary room for its Wednesday evening rehearsals, it has nowhere to store its drums, spare pipes and uniforms.

And, this week, Pipe Major Drew Ness turned to Border Telegraph readers in an urgent appeal for help.

“We’ve gone through a list of potential premises and some are okay for practice but storage is the big problem,” he said.

“We would probably need one room, five metres by three metres (to accommodate their equipment). In the past we’ve had two rooms, one for drums and another for the general stores.

“We have an option to go to the MacArts centre but the storage is pretty primative.” And he added: “If we don’t find a new home we’re really in stook.” The pipe band has had various meeting places over the years and only moved to The Hive at the turn of the year after a clash in the timetable at the TD1 Youth Hub in Ladhope Vale.

But, while it would ideally like to rehearse at the same venue it stores its equipment, it is looking for anywhere it can call home - although it is keen to stay within the town.

“We’ve played in some terrible places, like the Mission Hall at Halliburton,” Drew explained. “We were there for quite a while and it was like playing inside a bell. Plus the heating was primative.

“We’ve looked at the Focus and Langlee Community Centre, the Focus is totally booked up, it’s a very busy place, as is the Community Centre and storage is nil with both of them.

“We’ve not had a reply from the British Legion yet but they have always opened their door to us - for practice only, they haven’t got the space for storage.

“One of the other places we could try would be to get in touch with the organisers of the Hayward Trust, who administer the Scout Hall, where we used to be - that was our ancestral home, the old Ex-Service club.” He added: “We have temporary accommodation at the moment, Rob Ainslie has given us temporary accommodation at Morrison and Murray (Engineering) in a building that was being renovated. But if that became let we would have to get out.” Can you help? If you know of suitable premises Galashiels Ex-Service Pipe Band could use for rehearsals and/or storage, contact Pipe Major Drew Ness on 01896 754122 as soon as possible.