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A long and colourful history.
The Band was formed at the latter end of 1969 following an enquiry from
Caledonian/BUA to Mr Jim Hamilton who lived in Crawley. He recruited mainly from
the
Addiscombe & Shirley British Legion and
the Crawley Pipe Bands. The Pipes & Drums were to come under the direct control
of the Publicity Department of Caledonian/BUA headed at that time by Mr Chris
Tear, but it took the best part of another year before the band was finally
settled in and uniforms were ordered. This was because of various meetings at
the H.Q of Caledonian/BUA to decide how the Band should be run, and to what
purpose the Company would use it. After much discussion Ancient Caledonia tartan
finally selected as the official dress of the Band. In the interim period, the
band used the Mackenzie uniform of the Addiscombe & Shirley band.
The Pipe Major was Ian MacLeod and the Drum Major Mike Sterling. Other members
at that time were: Pipers David Stark, Tom Dingwall (now PM Callandar), Mick
Farrell, Andrew Smith, Angus Macleod, Ned Dunne, Douglas Campbell, Len Hogan,
Jim O'Hara, Joe O'Leary, Dennis Rosie, George Nichols, Dave Hickey, Kenny Leisk
(now PM Queensferry & Dist), and Bill Rennie (Pipe Sgt). The Drum Corps: Ian
Milton, Mick Bicknell, Dave Lewis, Stuart King, Barry Slade, Bill Hewson and Ron
Palmer. Rod McFadyen and Tom Jackman joined shortly afterwards.
BAND PATRON
The obvious choice for this position was Sir Adam Thomson who gave the Band
tremendous support from the outset and always tried to attend as many functions
as his extremely busy schedule would allow. Sir Adam was instrumental in finally
giving Band members the same privilege travel as all employees of B.CAL. Jimmy
Liddell composed a now, very popular pipe tune in honour of Sir Adam, when he
received his Knighthood
BAND PRESIDENT
The Band President was Mr Ian Ritchie who as Director of External Affairs for
B.CAL
instigated the Band to become part of the Publicity Department, which reported
directly to him. Being a Scot by birth (and an ex-Royal Scot officer), Mr
Ritchie was extremely proud to be associated with the Band and it was mainly
through his efforts that the Band gained their privileged position within the
company.
We also had the support of other B.CAL managers during our association with the
Airline; namely, Mr Gordon Mason who attended the initial meeting of the Band's
officers and the airline; Mr Tony Cocklin, Mr Chris Gilbert, Mr Brian Folley,
and Mr Simon Ames. Initially Mrs Jan Oliver, followed over the years by Silvia
Morant and Liz Ross were responsible for the organisational administration of
the Band on its many overseas trips, and without their help and support the Band
would not have been able to function properly. They were also responsible for
booking tickets for member's holidays.
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BAND SECRETARIES
Over the years, there were several Band elected secretaries who organised the
job lists and booked the bands private engagements. In one period, in the month
of January, there were over 30 jobs to be organised abroad, ranging from single
pipers to small bands. The secretaries were Mike Sterling Stuart Sinclair, Jim
Barnard, Malcolm Lay, Tom Hair, and Rod McFadyen.
Stuart Sinclair and Les Walker the QM, were the only non-playing members and
therefore did not benefit from overseas jobs. We did eventually manage to get
them both out on a tour with the band in Texas, USA. Stuart was in office when
the Band was based solely in the South of the country and was our direct link to
the airline when organizing airline tickets, etc. Stuart had three sons who
played in the band, over the years, Iain, Graeme and Alistair. PM Angus
MacDonald, Glasgow Police, played at his wedding and Donald MacLeod used to
pipe for his wife Iris MacLeod when she danced in her native Stornaway. R.S. (Roddy)
MacDonald, who was a very good friend of Stuart, composed and named a tune after
him, which Vale of Atoll used as an introduction to one of their selections.
THE BAND GETS OFF THE GROUND
1971 saw the Band beginning to gel together as a single unit. Practice sessions
were held regularly in midweek at a temporary office complex rented by B.CAL in
the centre of Crawley. We experienced problems with suppliers of uniforms mainly
because of our lack of knowledge on who to approach in Scotland (at that time
there were very few band outfitters, now you can't move for them!) hence the
delay in kitting out the band. There were also budget restrictions and not all
the uniform could be purchased at the same time. It was decided that instead of
proper doublets, the band would purchase ex-army tropical white jackets . This
proved a boon when we the first overseas company engagement was in the far east.
It was also decided that feather bonnets had to be a casualty until funds were
available in the next years budget, but it was agreed that the Drum Major should
be supplied with the only feather bonnet in the band.
And so, after many months of practice and learning set tunes, we were requested
to appear in front of Mr Ian Ritchie at Gatwick Airport to demonstrate our
potential as a Band and Ambassadors for B.CAL. Unbeknown to us as members, it
was also being used by B.CAL management to ascertain if the Band was ready for
its first major overseas engagement.
And so on a Sunday morning in September, the Band assembled on the grass outside
the canteen area in full kit and in front of Mr Ritchie and Gordon Mason. We
performed our complete programme of marching and tunes, and both managers were
impressed at our progress. Mr Ritchie announced the company's intention to fly
the whole Band to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in November. Other trips were to
follow in quick succession: Uganda , Zambia Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone,
Ivory Coast, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Japan, Dubai ,Saudi Arabia, Oman,
Holland, Germany, France, Italy and many States in North America, from New York
to Houston. The Bands final overseas trip was on behalf of B.CAL and the Hilton
Hotel group playing in Hong Kong and then on to Taiwan.
Because of the excessive number of overseas engagements that the band were
requested to participate at and in those days of full employment and only 2
weeks holiday, we had to augment the band with pipers and drummers from
Scotland. Robert Richardson, Jimmy Anderson and Bob Turner from Muirhead & Sons,
were the first of many. Members from Renfrew, Red Hackle and the Glasgow Police
pipe bands followed shortly afterwards.
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RENFREW SPONSORSHIP
In 1973 the Renfrew Borough band gained sponsorship from the airline which had
now become registered as British Caledonian Airways, they being titled British
Caledonian Airways, Renfrew. The pipe major of Renfrew was Willie Connell who
became joint pipe-major of both bands until his company transferred him to
Canada shortly afterwards. Robert Stewart and Iain MacLeod followed as Pipe
Majors of Renfrew.
Pipe-major John Roe; ex-Scots Guards took over as pipe-major of the Gatwick
based band for a short period, followed by Robert Richardson in 1973. Bob was a
member of Robert Hardies 5-in-a-row Muirhead & Sons at the time, and was
guesting with us on band trips.
The Gatwick based band at that time was a non-competing band and Renfrew were in
Grade One and always in the first three with a championship winning drum corps
under Joe Noble.
Robert Richardson was given permission to import a few players down from
Scotland to strengthen the band. Hugh McInnes, Eric Richardson, Joe Richardson,
C. Phair, K. Ross were invited to join, plus John Martin, Steve Cooper, John
Newlands, Martin O'Hara, Bob Skinner, Norrie MacLeod, Malcolm Dowie, Barney
McKillion and Jim McCombie from the London area, and the band began to change
for the better.
At that time, Ian Craig was travelling down from Oxford and he picked up PM
Angus MacDonald on the way through. Angus persuaded his sergeant at the Scots
Guards Piping School in Pirbright, Gavin Stoddart (later Pipe Major and
currently major in charge of army piping in Edinburgh) to join up with us.
As well as the competing members there were others, including some of the
founder members that played on band engagements and had equal standing on band
trips and company perks. These included: John Campbell, a close friend and
best-man at the marriage of Col. David Murray, John Boyd ex-8th Argylls and a
prisoner of war, Mick Farrell, Jim O'Hara, Ned Dunne, Joe O'Leary, Rab Smith,
Iain Macdonald, Seamus Murphy and Graeme Sinclair.
The drummers at that time were Bobby Orr, who was a professional drummer and had
played with all the big bands, i.e. Ted Heath, Jack Parnell, Benny Goodman, and
played for Sammy Davis on his last British tour; Andy White, famous for playing
on the Beatles recording of Love, Love Me Do and others, and most of the Bay
City Rollers recordings. He was also Melody Maker session man of the year at
the time. It didn't do us much good in our first competition in Grade 2 held in
Princess Street Gardens - first in piping, last in drumming!
The following season David Bruce was made leading drummer, with Campbell
Drummond coming with him from the Glasgow Skye. Alec Garry was the bass drummer
with Bill Hewson and Iain Sinclair on tenors. Iain was the first Brit. to play
with Simon
Fraser University in Canada.
When the band first travelled north to compete, we were accommodated at member's
houses in Glasgow. Namely Joe Richardson, Tom Johnstone, Campbell Drummonds
mother, Dave Stark's parents, and Stuart Sinclair's brother in law. The
following season B.Cal funded accommodation at hotels. The Excelsior at Glasgow
airport was almost like a second home. We would fly up on Friday and hold a
practice at the Scotstoun Church Hall.
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CHAMPIONS OF CHAMPIONS
The band had an amazing season in 1977 winning every competition that was
entered, including all the major championships, even the M&D at the worlds with
four army bands competing! At that time we had 7 MacDonalds in the band: PM
Angus, Anthony, Dr Angus, Allan, Kenny, Roddy and Iain; Gavin Stoddart, PM Joe
Wilson, Hugh McInnes, Campbell McGuigan, Tom Johnson, Charlie Cochrane, Jim
Hardie, Rab Kelly, David Stark, John Martin, Rod McFadyen, Ian Craig, John
Newlands and Jim McCombie.
On Sunday mornings, the members from Scotland would fly down on the 7am flight;
have the practice until 1pm; Wingspan Club for refreshments until closing time,
which was 2pm in those days; then around to Les Walker's council house in
Crawley for a celeidh until the evening flight at 8pm. There were so many Gold
Medal winners playing, we could have held the Inverness Clasp Competition there!
It was lucky that the neighbours liked piping - well we never had any
complaints! No kitchen piping here, apart from the MacDonalds.
INTO GRADE 1
In 1978 the band was upgraded to grade one, with Bob Turner from Muirheads
taking over as leading drummer and bringing Tony Burns, Jimmy Andrews , Jimmy
Collins, and Willie Jarvie with him, Allan Dawes came in on the bass. At that
time there was a bit of an exodus from Renfrew as they had lost their
sponsorship with BCAL, and we gained Jimmy Liddell, Willie Beveridge, Fleming
McAlpine, PM Calum Campbell and Jack Henderson. Renfrew later became sponsored
by Black Bottle Whisky and are currently
David Urquart Travel.
Arthur Farrell, son of Mick, and a member of the Mad Mitch team in Aden, joined
the band after completing his tour of duty in Oman. He had been on a number of
BCAL piping engagements during his time in the Argylls. Iain MacPherson, MM, Sir
Patrick Grant were among the many names at that time, also John Walsh before he
migrated to Canada and the
78th Fraser Highlanders.
In 1982, because of the large number of Scotland based members, and the aside,
the band transferred from the London branch of the RSPBA to the West of Scotland
branch.
Later that year, the management at BCAL decided they wanted a change of
pipe-major and Harry McNulty joined us from the Lothian & Borders police band.
Bob Turner had left for Dubai to take up a post. The legendary Alex Duthart
filled the position of leading drummer. He brought the rest of the Shotts drum
corps with him: Bert Barr, Eric Ward, Arthur Cook, Drew Duthart and Tucker
Johnson.
Alex was to tragically collapse and die whilst playing with the band during
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. During a break in the parade (a bit
like the London Lord Mayors Parade) shortly beforehand, he was surrounded by
drummers from all sorts of bands participating, explaining drum rudiments and
its history. He was forever passing on his incredible knowledge and technique to
anyone who was interested, right up until his end.
Craig Walker had moved to London to work after leaving university, also Eric
Ward and Chris Lyttle joined up with us in the south. Other new members at that
time were PM Brian MacRae, PM Dixie Ingram, Angus Ingram, Linden Ingram, and
Peter Ferguson in the south. Roddy MacLeod, Iain Roddick, David McRoberts,
Alister Fletcher, Willie MacCallum Willie Bowes, Andy Young, John Patrick, Peter
Hunt Gordon Buchanan, Gordon Grant, William Shearer, Greg Dinsdale and Jim
Schotther in the north.
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BRITISH AIRWAYS TAKE-OVER
In 1988 B.CAL was taken over by British Airways, and it effectively put an end
to the sponsorship of the band as a single unit. The committee led by Harry
McNulty tried to obtain sponsorship to keep both units together, but were not
successful. The Scottish contingent gained sponsorship from Scottish Power,
which has proved mutually beneficial under the leadership of Pipe Major Harry
McNulty and leading drummer Eric Ward, and latterly Pipe Major Roddy MacLeod and
leading drummer John Scullion.
At the same period Jimmy Banks had the backing to form a band for Dan Air, and 9
members of the Gatwick group took the opportunity to join up with him, to
compete in Grade 2. The band later changed their name to Clan Sutherland, and
moved north a couple of years later under PM Tony Sloane.
GATWICK CALEDONIAN PIPE BAND
The remaining members of B.CAL Gatwick decided to keep together and with the
uniforms that were given to the Band by B.CAL formed a small group based in
Crawley. Ex-founder members Ian Milton, Mick Bicknell and Bill Hewson decided to
return, now that they had more spare time. In 1999 the Band re joined the RSPBA
London Branch and started to enter the local competitions, albeit now at the
bottom rung of the grading ladder. We hope it will give the younger members a
taste of competition and hopefully gain experience to start the heady climb up
the grading system. A new cap badge was designed by Graeme Sinclair, which
incorporated the rampant lion of B.CAL.
IN CONCLUSION
In its 19-year history the British Caledonian Airways Pipe Band played before
The Pope , Royalty, Presidents, Ambassadors. In most parts of the World,
appearing on State television wherever they went; the World Football Cup in
Mexico; Top of the Pops with the Scottish Football team; at a Beatles concert in
the Royal Albert Hall, with Queen Elizabeth II present. There were so many major
events and venues ranging from Palaces in the Middle East to the astrodome in
Houston.
Individual Pipers also met Presidents and Royalty and even some met their future
wives on trips abroad. One Piper was made an Honorary Tribal Chief in Uganda
- it was a bad move to drop him from the competition squad! The Band was unique
and the Piping World will never see the like again. The quality of players
within its ranks will never be bettered. Certainly not the camaraderie.
The last overseas trip was made in 1988, which included playing at a large arena
in Hong Kong in front of thousands. The Tattoo was based on the Royal Tournament
with the B.CAL Pipe Band being the only non-military unit to take part. At the
finale the Band had the honour to lead all the participating bands onto the
arena, which included the Band of the Coldstream Guards and the three pipe bands
from the Brigade of Gurkhas. British Caledonian Airways Pipe Band received a
standing ovation from the vast audience. From Hong Kong the Band was flown to
Taiwan as guests of the Hilton Hotel Group, where the band played at the Chang
Kai-Shek Memorial and for some very important Chinese Guests at the Hilton
Hotel.
And so ended an era, never to be repeated. - Or will it!
A long and colourful
history:
