Victoria Police Pipe Band

Biography

The Victoria Police Pipe Band was formed in 1936 by a small group of dedicated Police members who received some financial assistance from a Mr. W.E. McPherson. In recognition of his generosity, the Band proudly wears the McPherson tartan. From 1936 to 1987 members were mainly recruited from dedicated operational police; they performed with the Band on a part-time basis. In 1987 the Band began its quest for the holy-grail of piping - to become the ‘Champions of the World’. In the Easter of 1988...

The Victoria Police Pipe Band was formed in 1936 by a small group of dedicated Police members who received some financial assistance from a Mr. W.E. McPherson. In recognition of his generosity, the Band proudly wears the McPherson tartan. From 1936 to 1987 members were mainly recruited from dedicated operational police; they performed with the Band on a part-time basis.

In 1987 the Band began its quest for the holy-grail of piping - to become the ‘Champions of the World’. In the Easter of 1988 the Band won the Grade Two Australian Championship; in August the same year, they were placed third in the World Pipe Band Championship. Six successive Grade One Australian Championships, plus nine Victorian Championships followed. In 1998 the Band travelled to Glasgow in Scotland where they finally achieved their dream by winning the title ‘Champions of the World’.

During the time the Band competed, they held the distinction of being the premier Police Pipe Band in the world for six years in succession.

The Victoria Police Pipe Band perform at all major Police events. They are the State Band and as such attend many Regal and Vice-Regal ceremonies. Welfare and charity based organisations throughout Victoria are the beneficiaries of approximately 250 performances the Band averages in any given year.

The Band has recently developed a very successful and very popular audience participation program for schools. Designed as an introduction to the bagpipes for primary school children, the more traditional aspects of the genre are replaced with material better known and understood by this age group.

If football-club theme songs played on bagpipes are not the ultimate antithesis of traditional bagpipe culture, wait till you hear The Drum Corps play their own composition, ‘Drummers Rap’; it becomes the talking-point for the school community for the rest of the
week.

-- Info taken from http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=673 -- Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.