On Remembrance Day, while some of us braved the elements to attend a ceremony honouring our veterans, the Branch 642 Royal Canadian Legion pipe band tries to attend them all.
Well, as many as they can.
Pipe band spokesperson Dottie Laurie said the band always has a very busy schedule for Remembrance Day, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“This is what we’re about. That’s why they are part of the band. It’s because of the veterans and what the Legion stands for,” she said. “It may be our busiest and hairiest week for the year, but it’s also our best”
It actually started Nov. 6, Laurie said, as one of the band’s pipers was up in Florence, piping for a church service in that community.
Members also attended ceremonies Nov. 9 at Chatham Christian School and Nov. 10 at Chatham-Kent Secondary School.
On Nov. 11, the band had pipers in Thamesville, Merlin, Blenheim and Ridgetown. The bulk of the band played at the indoor ceremonies at the John D. Bradley Convention Centre.
“We try to participate in all Remembrance Day ceremonies throughout the community as best we can,” Laurie said. “What’s a Remembrance Day service without a piper?”
The main contingent shifted from the Bradley Centre to Branch 642 Legion over the lunch hour, before meeting up with its stray pipers in the early afternoon for the ceremony in Erieau.
Laurie said it’s a big effort.
“A lot of band members donate their vacation time off to participate. It’s a given. Nobody blinks an eye at doing that,” she said.
Laurie said the friendship as a group is what amazes her about the band.
“The camaraderie is incredible. It’s like everyone is best of friends,” she said. “It’s more than a feeling of being a member of a group. We share a common bond.”
The pipe band has 17 members these days, Laurie said, and is looking to fill out the ranks somewhat.
“We’re working to get the word out for new members. Beginners’ classes are starting now for drums and pipes.”
Laurie said for anyone wanting to learn how to play the bagpipes, it takes about a year to become proficient. She’s currently a drummer in the band, but is in the process of learning how to play the pipes.
She’s got a good teacher: her husband, Dick Laurie, who has been in the band for more than five decades. He’s the longest-serving band member.
“You have to learn to read music,” she said of the effort to play the pipes. “It took about six months for me to read it and co-ordinate my brain and my fingers. I’m still working on it.”
The oldest band member is in his 80s, while the youngest is 14, but there is a nine-year-old boy learning to play as well, Laurie said.
The youth movement is cherished.
“When you get someone who is young like that and they pick it up rather quickly, we’ve got them for several years before they leave for university,” Laurie said.
That can leave members with ties to the band, and the community, even when they don’t live here.
“We’ve got several members who live elsewhere who come in for the occasional parade. They also belong to other bands,” Laurie said.
Anyone interested in joining can contact the band at 642pipes.drums@gmail.com.
