Stonehouse Pipe Band

The Stonehouse Pipe Band are a pipe band from Stonehouse in the South Lanarkshire region of Scotland.

History

Formed in 1899 under Pipe Major Hector McIness Stonehouse Pipe Band grew steadily during the pre-war years at the beginning of the last century.

In 1909 Harry Lauder suggested a competition for civilian bands at the Cowal Gathering. He had been a miner and knew that many mining villages had pipe bands which would struggle to compete against the military bands in the Argyll Shield. So the civilian contest for the Sir Harry Lauder Shield began.

In 1909 Stonehouse Pipe Band won the civilian contest and went on to retain it in 1910 and 1911.

However the 'bigger news' was that Stonehouse won the Argyll Shield in 1909 as well. This was, in effect, the World Championships at that time.

As detailed in the Piping Times, Volume 45 No 6, by Archie MacNeill:

"The first civilian band to make a real impact was Stonehouse... Stonehouse won the world championship shortly before the First War and they made a very good impression on everybody who heard them. Their pipes were so well tuned compared to the bands from the city. Previously very little attention was paid to the tuning of chanters or drones."

As an aside - the Argyll Shield is now the award for Grade One at Cowal, while the Sir Harry Lauder Shield is the award for Grade Two.

The band original wore the McGregor tartan but this was changed to the Hamilton dress tartan in the 1930s after it was donated by Mrs. Janet Millar of Tinto View, Stonehouse. Mrs. Millar’s brother was Alexander Hamilton of Kidderminster who had also gifted a public park to the village of Stonehouse in 1925.

The band began to break up around 1939-40 due to increasing pressure and competition from other bands, although the junior band continued into the 1970s.

Stonehouse Pipe Band were reformed in 2007 with the intention of teaching a complete new band of beginners on both pipes and drums, With the help from Pipe Major Craig Wright and Pipe Sergeant Kenneth Neilson.

In 2014, the band took part in the World Pipe Band Championship on Glasgow Green. This was a first for many of the band members and an enjoyable yet educational experience was had by all. The band are open to players from absolute beginners wanting to learn the pipes and drums and to those who are more experienced. The band also plan to compete at many competitions in the future.

External links

• The Cowal Gathering
• The Sorbie Family Website (Emigrated from Stonehouse but a good source of information