The Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band is a grade 2 competitive

pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term pipes and drums, used by military pipe bands is also common. The most common form of pipe band consists of a section of pipers playing the Great Highland bagpipe, ...

based in

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. As well as participating in competitions, the band performs at civic events, parades and charitable fund-raisers.

History

The Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band was founded in 1969, to promote good public relations and to play at the funerals of police officers. In 2012 the band played for the return of Olympic athletes at the Ottawa International Airport. The band won the Pipers' and Pipe Band Society of Ontario grade 2 Champion Supreme Award in 2012, 2013, and 2014. On 7 July 2013, members of the band performed ''Mull of Kintyre'' on stage with

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

as part of his ''Out There'' concert tour. The band performed to a sold out hometown crowd at the

Canadian Tire Centre Canadian Tire Centre () is a multi-purpose arena in the suburb of Kanata in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened in January 1996 as the Palladium and was also known as Corel Centre () from 1996 to 2006 and Scotiabank Place () from 2006 to 2013. ...

. The band won the North American Pipe Band Championship in grade 2 at the Glengarry Highland Games in 2013 and 2014. In October 2014, the band was promoted to grade 1 by the Pipers' and Pipe Band Society of Ontario after a merger with neighboring Glengarry Pipe Band, also in grade 2. In 2007 and 2018 the band opened for

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

at the British rock singer and songwriter's Ottawa concerts. The band requested a downgrade to grade 2 for the 2019 season after a two-year hiatus, citing a drop in numbers after the departure of lead-drummer Brendan Kelly and pipe major Andrew Hayes.

External links

{{Reflist Grade 2 pipe bands Canadian police bands