Glasgow Police Pipe Band was a grade one

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, ...

from

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Founded in 1883 as the Burgh of Govan Police Pipe Band, the band enjoyed its greatest competitive success as the

Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Police was the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, Glasgow City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, ...

Pipe Band. It ceased competing as Glasgow Police Pipe Band in 2021.

History

The band was one of the first civilian bands in Britain when it formed in 1883 as the Burgh of

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

Police Pipe Band. The first

pipe major The pipe major is the leading musician of a pipe band, whether military or civilian. Like the appointment of drum major, the position is derived from British Army traditions. During the early twentieth century, the term sergeant piper was used ...

was William Bremer, who was succeeded by Walter Drysdale in 1890, who was in turn succeeded by Alexander Hutcheon in 1898. The band enjoyed a good reputation, and was recognised nationally for its quality. It wore a tartan designed and hand-spun by the Chief Constable and played two concerts annually to raise funds. . The chief constable's kilt was after the pattern of hodden-grey but with a purple stripe. Govan was annexed into Glasgow along with

Partick Partick (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to the north Broo ...

in 1912, and the band became the City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band. In 1913 William Gray, a Gold Medal winner, replaced Hutcheon as pipe major, and the tartan was also replaced with the Royal Stewart. The band won its first

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in 1920, but due to Gray's focus on events other than competition the next time the band won the Worlds was 1936. Gray was succeeded in 1932 by John MacDonald, a student of Gray for many years and also a Gold Medal winner, having won at both the

Argyllshire Gathering The Argyllshire Gathering is a Highland games held in Oban, Scotland. History A meeting on 23 August 1871 held at the Argyll Arms Hotel led to a resolution to have an "Annual Gathering of the Gentry of the County of Argyll for social purposes". ...

and the

Northern Meeting The Northern Meeting is a gathering held in Inverness, Scotland, best known for its solo bagpiping competition in September. History The Northern Meeting was set up in 1798 "for the purpose of promoting a Social Intercourse", and early editions f ...

within a week. Under MacDonald, the band won the World Championships in 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939, and after the Second World War in 1946, 1949 and 1951. Angus MacDonald succeeded John MacDonald in 1958, and rebuilt the band after the loss of senior players through retirement had reduced the band's competitiveness. Under Angus MacDonald the band won every major championship except the Worlds. Ronald Lawrie succeeded Angus MacDonald as pipe major in 1967, but due to ill health Lawrie was succeeded by

Ian MacLellan Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a popu ...

in 1972. In 1975,

was formed by the merger of several police forces to form the second-largest police force in Britain, and the respective bands were merged into the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band under the leadership of Ian MacLellan. Under MacLellan and leading drummer Alex Connell the band won the World Championships in 1976 and 1979, being placed second to Dysart and Dundonald in 1977 and 1978. Strathclyde Police then won every year from 1981 to 1986, and then four consecutive times from 1988 to 1991. In 1987, the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band from Canada became the first band based outside Scotland to win the title, and

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

, also from Canada, came second, pushing Strathclyde Police into third place. The run of six consecutive wins remains a record, as does the twenty total wins accumulated throughout the band's history. MacLellan retired in 1992 and was succeeded by Harry McAleer, who led the band until 1996 when he was succeeded by Ian Plunkett. Plunkett was succeeded by James Wark in 2001. Wark retired and was succeeded by Donald Mackay in 2004. Under Mackay, the band enjoyed championship successes once again, winning the European Pipe Band Championships and Cowal Highland Gathering in 2006 and the Scottish Championships in 2007. Mackay stood down in 2008 and was succeeded by Don Bradford. In 2009, funding cuts and a restriction on the number of events the band could play at threatened the future of the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band. Bradford and pipe-sergeant Duncan Nicholson resigned in protest, but returned in January 2010 after a new funding agreement was reached. Duncan Nicholson succeeded Bradford as pipe major in 2010. In 2013, territorial police forces in Scotland were amalgamated to form

Police Scotland Police Scotland (), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist services of the Scottis ...

. The structure of the band was unchanged however the band changed its name to Greater Glasgow Police Scotland Pipe Band. The band performed in the annual

Pre-Worlds concert The ''Pre-Worlds Concert'' is an annual pipe band concert organised by the Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band, first held in 1994. The concert takes place just before the prestigious World Pipe Band Championships, the concert is designed to sho ...

in 2014 with the name Ceolry. Nicholson was replaced as Pipe Major by Iain MacPherson. In the following year, 2016, the band changed name again becoming the Glasgow Police Pipe Band and their leading drummer Eric Ward was replaced by David Henderson. In December 2019, Iain McPherson stepped down as Pipe Major and Duncan Nicholson, former pipe major, was appointed. Later, the band announced Ewan Henderson would be appointed Pipe Major with immediate effect, succeeding Duncan Nicholson, who stepped in as interim Pipe Major. In 2021, the band announced it would cease competing as the Glasgow Police Pipe Band and begin to be known as Police Scotland & Federation Pipe Band and change from their famous Royal Stewart tartan which the band wore for 108 years. Over the band's history, it had won a total of 90 major championships, including 20 World Pipe Band Championships, 4 World Drum Corps Championships, 14 RSPBA Champion of Champions titles, 13 British Pipe Band Championships, 5 Scottish Pipe Band Championships, 11 European Pipe Band Championships, and 23 Cowal Highland Gathering Pipe Band Championships, with its most recent championship win in 2007.

Evolution of Band Name

The band faced many name changes throughout its 138 year history due to boundary changes within the Police force. * ''Burgh of Govan Police'' (1883 - 1912) - 29 years * ''City of Glasgow Police'' (1912 - 1975) - 63 years * ''Strathclyde Police'' (1975 - 2013) - 38 years * ''Greater Glasgow Police Scotland'' (2013 - 2015) - 2 years * ''Glasgow Police'' (2015 - 2021) - 6 years

Pipe Majors

*''William Bremer (1883-1890)'' *''Walter Drysdale (1890-1898)'' *''Alexander Hutcheon (1898-1913)'' *''William Gray (1913-1932)'' *''John MacDonald (1932-1958)'' *''Angus MacDonald (1958-1966)'' *''Ronald Lawrie (1966-1972)'' *''Ian MacLellan BEM (1972-1992)'' *''Harry McAleer (1992-1997)'' *''Ian Plunkett (1997-2001)'' *''James Wark (2001-2004)'' *''Donald Mackay (2004-2008)'' *''Don Bradford (2008-2010)'' *''Duncan Nicholson (2010-2015)'' *''Iain MacPherson (2015-2019)'' *''Duncan Nicholson (2020)'' *''Ewan Henderson (2020–2021)''

Leading Drummers

*''D/M Walker (1883 - approx. 1910)'' *''John Seton (approx. 1910-1927)'' *''Jack Seton (1927-1948)'' *''Alex McCormick (1948-1952)'' *''John Walley (1954-1961)'' *''Alex Connell (1961-1985)'' *''John Kirkwood Jr. (1985-1992)'' *''Roddy Darroch (1992-1995)'' *''Eric Ward (1995-2016)'' *''David Henderson (2016–2021)''

Discography

City of Glasgow Police The City of Glasgow Police or Glasgow City Police was the police organisation covering the city and royal burgh of Glasgow, from 1800 to 1893, and the county of city of Glasgow, from 1893 to 1975. In the 17th century, Scottish cities used to ...

Pipe Band *''Selection of Strathspeys and Reels/Eightsome Reels'' - P/M J. MacDonald (Parlophone F.3355) *''6/8 Marches'' - P/M J. MacDonald (

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

F.3369) *''Marching With The Pipers'' - P/M A. MacDonald (1966) *''Scottish Pipe Band Music'' - P/M R. Lawrie (Olympic 6145) *''The Choice of Champions'' - P/M R. Lawrie (1968) *''Scotland's Best, Vol. 1'' - P/M R. Lawrie (1970) *''Scotland's Best, Vol. 3'' - P/M R. Lawrie (1971) *''Glasgow Police March Past'' (1972) as Strathclyde Police Pipe Band *''World Champions'' - P/M I. MacLellan (1980) *''Champion of Champions (Champions of the World)'' - P/M I. MacLellan (1983) *''Six in a Row (1981-1986)'' - P/M I. MacLellan (1986) *''Solo Pipers, Quartet and Mini Band'' (1991) *''Pipes, Drums & A Glasgow Girl'' (2006) - with Joann Gilmartin as Greater Glasgow Police Scotland Pipe Band *''Ceolry: Live at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall'' (2015)

References

External links

Greater Glasgow Police Scotland Pipe Band
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1883 Grade 1 pipe bands Law enforcement in Scotland World Pipe Band Championships winners 1883 establishments in Scotland Scottish pipe bands Police bands