ARMY cadets Shaun Lamb and Peter Regan took part in a course on Scottish Highland piping and drumming.

The Washington-born pair, members of Borneo Band Durham ACF, were among 140 youngsters who spent a week at the Cameron Barracks, in Inverness, Scotland, for an event that brought together Army Cadet Force and Combined Cadet Force drummers and pipers from both sides of the border.

Sergeant Frank Alexander, the band's administrator, said: "Although the Borneo Band Durham ACF is a military-style brass band and the pipe band drums and drumming styles are different, this was a brilliant way for our two young drummers to get a grounding.

"Moreover, we have several Scottish tunes in our repertoire and our next step would be to get a pipe into the band."

The course was the second organised by the recently-established Territorial Army and Army Cadet Force Pipes and Drums Centre under its chief instructor Captain Bruce Hitchings.

Captain Hitchings said: "We see it as a way to put something back into the community. The aim is for every unit to have its own competent pipes and drums corps."

The centre's commanding officer, Colonel Robert Patterson, said: "We are working to help make our national instrument more accessible to youngsters, regardless of where they are and whatever their circumstances."