Join & the road ahead

I was 10 years old — my parents decided it’s time I had a hobby. My Dad, Joe, was in the band already so it just seemed the natural place to go and try something out. I’ve been piping ever since, just 53 years now!

My first teacher was Walter Ingham, who I think had been Pipe Major of the band at some point. Walter was self taught, but did a great job teaching me the basics and first few tunes till I graduated from the learners table and into the band. Thereafter I went to the band’s Pipe Sergeant, Stuart Gilchrist, for tuition outside the things I learned in the band. I’d various teachers over the years, but was lucky enough to be taught by another former COBPB member for a time in Bradford, John Walsh, before he emigrated to Canada. That was my first inkling of what could be achieved with hard practice and big dreams. I stayed with Bradford for 7 or 8 years.

I still have a teacher to this day. I’m currently studying Piobaireachd under Dr Jack Taylor in Aboyne. It’s that part of my piping journey I never really travelled properly. Finding good Piobaireachd tuition in Yorkshire was just about impossible in the days before the internet. I’m lucky to have Jack guide me — he is a world renowned player, teacher and judge of the art, very much in demand around the world.

When I competed on the English solo and band scene we’d some very successful days out winning everything — for a while it was said I was ‘arguably England’s most successful solo piper’! That’s all a long time ago now. However, playing in Field Marshal Montgomery in Northern Ireland is my proudest time, winning every major championship in Grade 1 including the Worlds in 2004, and simply having been a part of that band has opened piping doors for me ever since, allowing me to travel and play all over the world. Outside of the competition scene, piping Donald Campbell’s Bluebird back into Coniston — that was a real hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck moment.

I got my grounding at Bradford, becoming Pipe Major at the age of 17. Which was very (too) young. I had people like Billy Balmforth who was a great supporter, who encouraged me to seek out other things and fulfil the potential he saw.

Listen to everything you can — the internet is a vast resource for ideas and inspiration. Seek out the quality, the very best bands of the day and for youngsters in particular, people like Lincoln Hilton who produces really innovative music. Also access good tuition, which is easily available over the internet nowadays — either by word of mouth referral, or the National Piping Centre. If you get the chance to play with musicians outside piping, do it — you learn so much from playing other types of music and bringing piping to different audiences. If your goal is to play in a band like Field Marshal or Inveraray, you can.

I think I was around 11 years old when my mother saw an advertisement in the newspaper — a band called The Hazely Mansfield Pipe Band were looking for pipers and drummers. So I went to their practice room and asked for drum sticks as I wanted to be a drummer. But I think it was Brian Slack said they didn’t have any drum sticks and to come back in 6 or 7 weeks they should have some then…… but meanwhile take this practice chanter and tutor book. Of course the sticks never did show up.

I was with the band for 7 or 8 years. I don’t remember one particular teacher. I was helped by various pipers — Bill Balmforth, Ian Cummings, Walter Ingham, John Gilchrist and Donald Ryder. I bought a couple of good pipe band albums and managed to get on the pipes. I will send a photo of me playing for the highland dancers on Donald Ryder’s pipes — I might have been close to 13 years old.

After moving to Scotland in 1973 I played with a grade 2 pipe band, Lanarkshire Police, for the season then moved over to the Shotts and Dykhead Pipe Band. With them we won all the major championships except the World Championship. I went to Canada in 1977 for a visit. When I returned I ended up in the British Caledonia Pipe Band for a year — there were some top pipers in that band. I emigrated to Toronto in February 1980 and joined up with a small group of pipers that eventually turned into the 78th Fraser Highlanders, and eventually in 1987 we won the World Championship. We moved to Antigonish in Nova Scotia in 1993. I did some teaching and we started our business John Walsh Bagpipes Ltd. Purely by accident I joined up with Rob Mathieson who was the pipe major of Shotts and ended up back in the band. I would fly backwards and forwards for the competitions and as if by magic we won the World Championships — that was 2005.

If I hadn’t started playing with the City of Bradford Pipe Band I might never have learned to play the bagpipes at all — because I did play in the Bradford band I would have had a different life altogether. With playing in Bradford I learned not only how to play the pipes but how and what to play for audiences that didn’t know anything about bagpipes. I have played in bars and pubs for a few people and functions all over the world. I played for 3500 people on a stage in Germany. (I was told it was for about 30 people!!)

Learning to play the bagpipe can seem daunting at the start with all the scales that need to be played and practiced before any tunes are played — but it is an amazing instrument to play.

I started piping aged 9, and received my first practise chanter from the band’s current Pipe Major, Bob Jenkins.

I was with City of Bradford Pipe Band for 5 years and was taught by P/M Bob Jenkins. I was also taught by former City of Bradford member Craig Macintosh and subsequently by P/M Norman Dodds MBE and Tom Speirs.

I have won the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championships twice with Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, including winning the Grand Slam in 2011, winning all five majors and the All Ireland championships.

In solo piping I won the Northern Ireland Piper of the Year competition in 2010, the Junior All Ireland championships, a McGregor Memorial finalist at the Argyllshire Gathering and numerous prizes around the games circuit in Scotland, Ireland and England.

Additionally, I was the first English member of the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland, and I was also the lone piper at the Menin Gate in Belgium on Remembrance Day.

I had a fantastic grounding in bagpipes with the band, where I was taught strong technique, and had the opportunity to gain lots of experience playing in a wide variety of events around the country. These connections and experiences also allowed me to make great friends along the way and perform at events and festivals around the world.

Enjoy your playing, and experience as much piping as you can. If you keep practising as often as possible, the hard work really will pay off.