Council celebrates Inverness Royal British Legion Pipe Band centenary

Provost of Inverness, Councillor Helen Carmichael and Councillors Roddie Balfour, Trish Robertson, Duncan MacPherson and Isabelle MacKenzie were joined by some of the members of the Inverness Royal British Legion Pipe Band, band committee members and band family and friends at Inverness Town House.

A century of piping and drumming by the Inverness Royal British Legion Pipe Band was celebrated on Friday 31 May 2019 at a civic reception held in the Inverness Town House.

Provost Carmichael said: “It is a remarkable achievement that the Inverness Royal British Legion Pipe Band is still going strong after 100 years. For this reason, the City of Inverness Area Committee was delighted to mark the occasion by saying ‘thank you’ to the band with this Inverness Common Good Funded reception.

“Your performances each year leading Remembrance Day and Kirking of the Council parades are appreciated by Councillors and we know that tourists love your weekly evening parades in summer on Inverness High Street as hundreds of visitors appear from no-where cameras-at-the-ready to the sound of the Legion pipes and drums.

“We thank you also for your performances at so many community events from Highland Games to smaller sessions in local care homes not just in Inverness area but across the Highlands and we wish the band another 100 years and many more of playing.”

Pipe Major Gordon Straube thanked the Provost for her warm welcome and said: “One hundred years ago today, the first chanter practice was held by the members of the newly formed Inverness Royal British Legion Pipe Band. The band was created by pipers and drummers who returned to civilian life from the horrors of the First World War battlefields.

“We pay tribute to the first Pipe Major, John Ross of Innes Street and Drum Major J. Fraser of King Street, Inverness and to the many band members who have played since then to this day. We are just custodians of the uniform and the band lives on through its members and many supporters.

“We thank the City of Inverness Councillors for their support over the years and we entrust the band to future generations to ensure its community spirit lives on.”

The Inverness Royal British Legion Pipe Band meets weekly on Tuesdays at the Royal British Legion, King Street, Inverness and parades on Inverness High Street 8 – 8:30pm during July and August. For further information visit: http://www.spanglefish.com/invernessroyalbritishlegionpipeband/