AJE beats the drum for pipe band
Forres and District Pipe Band now has a full complement of tenor drums thanks to a donation from AJ Engineering.
The company gave the band, which has around 30 members, £2000 to help fund the equipment.
The donation was arranged by the company’s founder Alan James as a gift to the “community band” when he announced he was retiring from the business in June.
Alan who is vice president of the band said: “I am very passionate about the Forres & District Pipe Band and I respect the work that they do in our local community at both attending events such as Highland Games, but also the amazing tuition scheme that they run. Pipe bands are an integral part of any community and the running costs are high, so AJ Engineering was more than happy to help.”
Pipe bands are very close to Alan’s heart as he is also the director and chairman of Forres Events Ltd which staged Piping in Forres, the European Pipe Band Championships for six years from 2013 to 2018.
He added: “I feel that having Piping At Forres really elevated the status of our own pipe band. The locals really rallied and supported them year on year, and it was a great boost to their status. It’s great to see them going strong.”
This year, the pipe band is celebrating its centenary and Bob Watson, its chairman said the donation has come at a perfect time.
“It’s poignant that this donation has come in our 100th year when we will have celebrations to mark this occasion. We are doing well with members, but our heyday was probably the 1950s. I have had 17 members of my own family go through the band from the early 1930s, so I myself have been heavily involved.”
Mike Munro, the drum major added: “There have been many highlights over the years, but I think the Europeans being held in Forres has to be one of them. We also used to play at the Mercat Cross at Hogmanay and in the seventies and eighties we would play on the High Street on Saturday nights.”
The band is now heading towards a busy summer season where they will perform and compete at several Highland Games, Drumming instructor Ross Martin said they were always ready to welcome new members.
“We have a fantastic, free tuition scheme which is down to the hard work of the late John Channon, who was a force when it came to encouraging young people to pipe or drum. At the moment we have a number of tenors coming through the learner system, so having these drums is invaluable and we are very grateful.”
