Police Pipe Bands

[Lallans]

In the current 'Raiding the Regiment' thread, about the idea of obtaining government surplus kilts, I suggested police pipe bands as a possible source. I looked into it myself and apparently they mostly individually buy their own outfits, but that led to a quick survey of police pipe bands in Canada and I turned up the following websites, in no particular order- and which also is by no means exhaustive.

(Not all links are home pages, some of go to a specific page of kilt interest, on the larger sites).

http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/Commun...orms_band.aspx

http://www.epspipeband.ca/about%20the%20band.htm

http://www.pipeband.ca/history.html

http://www.cpspipeband.ca/trivia.html

http://hamiltonpolicepipeband.com/?page_id=210

http://www.gvppb.ca/index.html

http://www.deltapolicepipeband.com/fr_intropage.cfm

http://www.windsorpolicepipeband.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara...Police_Service

http://www.winnipeg.ca/police/Pipers/index.stm

http://www.torontopolicepipeband.com/

http://www.prppb.ca/Home.html

I don't know if Canada is unusually rich in police pipe bands, but they are certainly keep the kilted tradition alive here in the Frozen North. Nothing is better, surely, than a pipe band in a city parade.

[BoldHighlander]

I don't know if Canada is unusually rich in police pipe bands, but they are certainly keep the kilted tradition alive here in the Frozen North. Nothing is better, surely, than a pipe band in a city parade.

Indeed! The two things that always thrilled me as a child at the Seafair Torchlight parade were the pipe bands & the pirates

[piperdown]

Indeed,

I belong to the gvppb and I had to pay half for my kilt. All other kit is supplied but must be returned when leaving otherwise consider it bought.

[Iainkp]

wow didn't know so many of our constabularies had pipe bands, should have asked my college profs if they had been in a pipe band while i had the chance,99% of them are either retired or still serving Police officers (Police Foundations Program)



Iain

[piperdown]

Iain,

Most of our band are non-officers. There are some fire department members. With their schedules, I don't know if you could ever muster a full band of officers (in our city anyways)

Rob

[Lallans]

Iain,

Most of our band are non-officers. There are some fire department members. With their schedules, I don't know if you could ever muster a full band of officers (in our city anyways)

Rob

At least one police band states they are all city officers. That would be easier in Toronto etc than in Moose Jaw etc. I know a couple of RCMP pipers that play in other bands so perhaps they even have an overflow.

[Lallans]

Indeed! The two things that always thrilled me as a child at the Seafair Torchlight parade were the pipe bands & the pirates

Wow, you had pirates too! Lucky!

[OC Richard]

For many years, many decades, some of the top Scottish bands have been police bands, especialy the Glasgow/Strathclyde Police and the Edinburgh/Midlothian Police. Also Tayside Police.

(Strathclyde PPB has been going through a lot recently, with the very existence of the band threatened by the powers that be.)

The Los Angeles Police used to have a good band in the 1980s, revived in the early 2000s, only to collapse again. They're listed in my 1986 World Pipe Band Championships programme.

[Lallans]

The 1973 book and 1979 Hollywood movie "The Onion Field" were about a real-life LA Police piper who was killed on duty- that sort of thing keeps a tradition alive. Too bad if it recently faded.

EDIT: Actually they seem to be still going strong?

http://www.lapdonline.org/search_res...basic_view/729 , and on Wikipedia etc

[BoldHighlander]

Aaron Shaw of the Wicked Tinkers was a member of the LA Police Pipe Band.