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History of the Pipes & Drums at Fettes | |
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Contents
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Pipe Major James Sutherland was appointed as Pipe Major Instructor in 1909, and the Pipe Band made its first public performance on 26th November 1912. Pipers at first wore their own kilts, but in 1917 the Hunting MacLeod tartan was adopted in memory of the first Senior Cadet Officer in the School Officer Training Corps who was killed at Arras. During the inter-war years a close association was developed with the Royal Scottish Pipers' Society, and by the time Pipe Major Sutherland retired after 34 years service to the School, a very strong tradition had been founded. Pipers of that time maintain a close and continuing interest in piping at the School. In the decades following the Second World War, instruction at the School was dominated by members of the world champion Edinburgh City Police Band with Iain Macleod, under whom the band won the Scottish Schools' Competition, Ron Ackroyd, a world champion drum major, and Jock Ferguson as the drumming instructor. The current Piping Instructor, Pipe Major Joe C Rafferty BEM, joined the staff in September 2001 as the College's first full-time instructor. Today, the strong tradition of band and solo playing is sustained under the auspices of the Combined Cadet Force, and there are currently some 40 Fettesians learning the pipes and 30 the drums. Besides inter-school competitions and functions outside school, the band and individual pipers perform on every major occasion during the School year, and with other Scottish schools Beat Retreat on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle and at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Cadet Pipe Major carries the School Pipe Banner on his bass drone whilst the Pipe Sergeant has one which was given in memory of a cadet piper from Japan - his family's chrysanthemum crest can be seen on one side of the banner. In recent years the Band has had its first female Pipe Major and on another occasion the Chief of the Clan MacLennan. |
