VALUABLE MEMBERS.
The Callander Legion Pipe and Drum Band was awarded the Community Spirit award by the Municipality of Callander for their volunteer contributions to the community through music.
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CALLANDER – One local group is being recognized for making lots of noise in the community.
“Everybody appreciates the recognition,” said Lloyd Stamp of the Callander Legion Pipe and Drum Band.
The band is the recipient of this year’s Community Spirit Award, which was presented by the municipality during its annual Evening of Appreciation held earlier this month.
The award is given to a person or group who has made lasting and meaningful contributions or provided significant support to volunteer activities. The Pipe and Drum Band has been playing for over 25 years with all volunteer members.
“Many people have come and gone over the years, but even those past members have contributed to this award because we’ve been involved in community events since the very beginning,” said Stamp, who has held the position of pipe major for the past 18 years.
The band, which is comprised of 10 members, is active performing at Remembrance Day services, municipal events, and area festivals, including Callander’s Funfest.
“It’s just nice to be appreciated,” said Stamp, who learned to play the bagpipes as a member of Branch 23 of the Legion in North Bay while in his early twenties.
Stamp had played the bugle in high school and went on to play drum for the legion before setting his sights on the bagpipes.
Now 38 years later, he is still going strong with his instrument of choice.
“The bagpipes is difficult to master,” he said. “It’s very physical to play. It’s like doing push ups and playing music at the same time.”
Stamp said as you keep playing, you will gain strength, but sometimes it can takes months.
“You begin to plateau after the first 10 years, but as new people come into the band and continue to inspire each other, you put more effort into the mental aspects. It keeps you motivated to keep improving,” he said.
Stamp has no links to Britain in his heritage, but he says that doesn’t really matter since bagpipes didn’t come from Scotland anyway.
“It’s been concluded that the bagpipes actually originated in the Middle East,” he said. “They were brought through Europe by the Romans and are still played throughout Europe today.”
According to Stamp, each area has its own version of the bagpipes.
He did acknowledge the importance of the bagpipes as a military instrument in Britain.
“In the 1800s, the queen made them a military instrument, which is why we know them in military bands today,” he explained.
Usually, he said, they were used for ceremonial purposes, including a lone piper who would lead his regimen into battle during the First World War. Although, he said, the tradition was soon discontinued because of the number of pipers who ended up being shot – over 1,000 bagpipers.
Stamp said cultural background has very little impact on who chooses to take on the bagpipe.
“It’s interesting the different people who become attracted to the bagpipes,” he said. “”Our best piper right now is a 16-year-old girl who began learning bagpipes at the age of nine.”