They say an army marches on its stomach. Well, for its marathon trek on Saturday, the Alexandra Pipe Band marched on its heart.
A full turnout of band members marched 10km from Clyde to Alexandra to pay tribute to the band's bass drummer, Peter Grayland, who died two months ago.
Mr Grayland (52) had been elected band president not long before his death on September 3 during a burn-off on a high country station near Cromwell.
''Peter was our inspiration for this and we're doing it for him,'' new band president, Andy Wagstaff, of Clyde, said.
''He was a long-time band member, good with training up the young band members and he talked about doing this march as a fundraiser not long before he died, so we're doing this in his honour.''
All 22 band members, from Cromwell, Roxburgh, Millers Flat, Alexandra and Invercargill took part in the ''playing relay''.
The eldest was pipe-major Alex Joyce, of Alexandra, who turns 80 next month, and the youngest was piper Kleff Tan (12), of Cromwell. They marched the full distance, alongside the highway, and two or three band members at a time took turns at performing.
Mr Grayland's widow, Rose, walked with the band during their trek and said her husband would have been proud of the efforts of all who took part.
Mr Wagstaff said the proceeds would go towards the $17,000 needed to replace the band's drum kit, buy new kilts and bagpipe chanters.
''I think we're probably over two-thirds of the way to that figure although we won't know a final total until the end of next week.''
The weather was fine with a tailwind for the three-hour march on Saturday morning and residents of Clyde and Alexandra offered donations and encouragement, as did passing motorists.
''The support we've had for this has been awesome ... unbelievable, really,'' Mr Wagstaff said.
The band celebrated its 75th anniversary earlier this year. Band members focused on fostering young musicians and that was paying off, with good numbers of young people coming through the ranks and joining the band, he said.
Kleff, a Cromwell College pupil, began playing the pipes last year and was inspired by fellow band member Reilly
Bell (16), of Cromwell, who played the bagpipes at a school graduation ceremony. Kleff said it was ''a really long way from Clyde to Alexandra'' but he was proud of having marched all the way.
He was supposed to be competing in a swimming competition on Saturday but opted to be with the band. At the end of their trek, the band performed a bracket of songs at the St Enoch's Church fair in Alexandra.
