Out from under the big umbrella

With demob on the horizon in '91, I decided it was time to look for a civvy band to continue my hobby, & while in York on a shopping trip one day I came upon a band who were having a break from playing. (I had not heard them playing). In conversation one player said instead of grade 4 they were more like grade 44. I thought that would do for me. They were the City of York Pipe Band.

Going along to their practice I was introduced to the members as the Pipe Major of RAF Leeming Pipe Band. I had never considered myself as that good, & had not been elected as such. I called myself their Senior Piper.

When I joined this band their repertoire consisted of 129 tunes, of which I knew about half. So it was a steep learning curve to get up to speed if I was going to take an active part in the band. Fortunately I had the opportunity at camp to practice when I wanted, so it worked out well.

Also at this time of uncertainty, coming out from under the big umbrella that was the RAF, I had no idea what I was going to do. There were no Flight Simulator jobs in the small market town where I lived.
Out of the blue I received a call from the engineering contract manager at RAF Finningley in South Yorkshire, asking me to attend an interview. (I vagely remembered filling in a form while doing resettlement stuff at Leeming). They were looking for a Flight Line Controller with Navigational Instrument background.
How stunned was I when I found out he (George Brown) had been the next door neighbour of my dear old granny in Scotland. I got the job.


On one memorable occasion I was asked to accompany the fitter of a new autopilot unit to air test the system. We did so successfully so I went up front to watch the pilot & engineer doing circuits & bumps. The flight engineer acted as a second pilot on the Domini aircraft. While oberving I remarked that it looked just like the view in the simulator, where I had worked. The pilot, who must have thought I had become a steely eyed pilot myself, let me sit in the right hand seat & take the controls for the last landing while he adjusted the engines. It was a brilliant experience & we landed perfectly.

The band had its ups & downs, like any other, and went from a strong group when I first joined, to a valiant few in a short few years, then began to recover slowly between '94 & 98. A big problem was that the band was divided in two. One group met on a Wednesday evening at the official practice hall, while the other group met in a different location on a Sunday morning. It was difficult to get both groups together as neither venue nor time was convenient for the individuals to come to the opposite practice. The only time they got together was on a band job or at the AGM.

Sadly our Pipe Major, Pat McKenzie died during that period, which left us devastated for a long time.

Due to the next Pipe Major retiring early, I was elected as Pipe Major in Jan '98 & led a very strong band for the following 3 years. We had a tremendous number of events in that time, sometimes out on both Saturday & Sunday to cover the multitude of functions we were asked to do. It became so demanding that we decided to cut the number of jobs to either the Saturday or the Sunday, but not both, as members had other commitments they were unable to fit in.
 
We fielded a regular 15 pipers & on a couple of occasions had as many as 25 pipers in our ranks. I was very proud of my band over those 3 years. We hosted a Tattoo in June 2000 which I organised & directed, in aid of Marie Curie, which was supported by 8 bands from Yorkshire together with 2 Silver bands. The event was held in the Silver Ring at York race course, & was a great success.

We had a very enjoyable Spring Ceilidh in '98, among many others, but this one happened during a visit by my sister, who came over from Australia to see us & our dear old Mum. It was a fab event & Jim & I played some ozzzie tunes just for Marg. I hope to put the video on this blog when I get my head round the techie bit.

The band was asked to officiate at the roll-out of a reconstructed Royal Navy wartime helicopter at Ellvington Airfield by Mr Ray 'MAC' McElwaine & his collegues,  which we duly attended. It was a well attended occasion & our appearance to support it was greatly appreciated.

The band was asked to lead the Lord Mayors Parade through the City of York in July 2000, which I agreed to only if we marched, as we had had a disasterous event previously where the Pipe Major had agreed to use an open topped bus, which I warned he would regret. As an experienced clippie of many years before, I was proved right.

Our march, at the head of the parade went down a storm. We won "Best Marching Band".

The band became involved in a major event in Edinburgh in August '95, which was called Pipefest. The aim was to gather a huge group of Pipers & Drummers from around the world, to march in aid of Marie Curie. The target was 3000 & I believe they were not far short of that mark on the day. Our block had pipers from as far away as Chile. There were however reports that bands had been left at railway stations en route because trains were full so there might have been many more.

The event was recreated 5 years later with an even bigger target of around 5000 players. By 2005 the target was up to 10000 pipers & drummers & again they were not far short of it, with more than 8000 pipes & drums parading through the city.

The band enters Princes Street in '95. We are 2nd from the left, in single file.

The City of York Pipe Band, in Edinburgh August 2005.

In 2010 we were unable to field a full band as we had no drum corp available. We were still represented by a valiant few.

 

Another event we were asked to lead was the reintroduction to service of The Flying Scotsman after a major refurbishment. The engine is a regular feature, during the summer months, on the York- Scarborough line. Here the band pipes in the Famous engine at York. The project was heavily endorsed by Sir Richard Branson. 

 

After the departure of the then PM, Hag, our first female Pipe Major was elected. It was another low point in our numbers so it has been another rebuilding exercise which seems to have taken a very long time. There seems to have been a dearth of accomplished players in the York area, over the last few years.

The picture shows Laura and a few others who have stuck it out to try & recover our numbers.

In 2010 the Pipefest plan changed & events were held around the world, with the Edinburgh Pipefest starting the chain of events which were to follow. A smaller number of players made the pilgrimage to the city, around 4500, whereas many others took part in their own countries.

The City of York Pipe Band has played in all 4 of the Edinburgh marches.

Photos from the 2010 event.

more photos to come.

I had the honour of leading our band in the marches in '95 (as Pipe Sergeant) & 2000 as Pipe Major. In fact there is a video on the Youtube website which features our band, (among many), coming along Princes Street, in front of the Art Gallery in '95 with me second from the left. (White shirt, Red sash) in the 2nd group of bands.

You can see it at this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO9Lf5MZ0Nc

Bring on the next one.

We had a band reunion in 1999 to celebrate 20 years since the formation of the group, which had started off as a Piping Society in Marygate. Great credit has to go to a former member, ( & one time PM) Kevin Coulson who did an enormous amount of work contacting past members, who came from far & wide to attend. It was a great event with about 300 people coming to the do. We had a massive band on parade with many of the past members bringing their instruments and filling the hall at the Askham Bryan College with a cracking sound.

Sadly all good things come to an end, & I retired as Pipe Major in 2001.

After about a year out of playing I returned to the fold in late 2002, & have been playing with the band since then, helping learners whenever our resident tutor, John, is overwhelmed by sheer numbers. We do seem to get people interested in learning to play, but not everyone continues with the task, as is the case with many people taking up a musical instrument. The band has helped to populate the Piping World however, on a regular basis.

Although tempted on a couple of occasions to take over the reins again when opportunities arose, I have so far refrained from allowing my enthusiasm to run off wildly. I am happy with the no-pressure status of just being a piper.

The band is steadily building again & we now have 10 playing pipers with a further 4 progressing nicely. Our drum corp is also coming on quite well, although we could do with a few more sides.

Any information about the band, including numbers to call regarding bookings & practice hall location can be found on the web at:-
http://www.cityofyorkpipeband.co.uk

We are always looking for new people. Tuition is FREE. There is no catch, its free.

Some of the more experienced members are currently learning a great tune called,

"The Steam Train To Mallaig"

Some years ago I was asked to play in a stage production of Brigadoon. Sadly no pictures of that show were allowed, due to copyright. Some years later I took part in another show with excepts from all the productions, including Brigadoon, called “Stars in Our Eyes”

This picture shows the cast taking a bow after all their hard work in that production.

The story will continue in the next post, as we march onwards to the Tunes of Glory, so watch this space.

Down South- again

The station at RAF Leeming was being transformed from a sleepy hollow into a fully blown Tornado Air Defence station with hardened shelters & nuclear proof command bunkers. I have never been so up to my neck in Fullers Earth.

My piping looked as though it would take a nose dive here, as the nearest RAF pipe bands were Leuchars in the north & Waddington in the south.

This prompted me to form a new band at Leeming so after asking around I put out a few feelers & got a meeting arranged. The result was the nucleus of a band, with 3 playing pipers, a keen learner, 2 sides & a reborn bass drummer.

Our Officer I.C. was a wannabe piper, but he could really throw a Tornado around the skies.

The newly formed RAF Leeming Pipe Band.

We worked hard on learning tunes & teaching others & managed to lead the AOC's parade in June 1990. RAF Waddington Pipe Band lent us uniforms & sent up a few players to help swell the ranks, we looked very impressive.

We were presented to the AOC during the review.

We all took our pipes to Cyprus in 1990 with 23 Sqn, which I had been a member of back in the lightning days, & entertained the troops at an end of detachment do on Lady's Mile Beach. Yet another memorable event.

I proudly took part in the massed RAF Pipe Bands parade outside Buckingham Palace during the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain in September 1990, with RAF Bands from Kinloss, Lossiemouth, Leuchars, Leeming, Waddington & Halton.

Massed Pipes & Drums of the RAF:- Battle of Britain 50th Anniversary Parade, Buckingham Palace. September 1990.
(Picture to follow)

The Long Journey North

Due to an unexpected promotion in '84, I was posted to Kinloss in the north of Scotland, to become the Trade Training Coordinator on the Nimrod Flight Simulator.
This meant leaving the Bury band & hoping to become a member of the RAF Kinloss Pipe Band. They accepted me warmly.

I managed to miss-out on going to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in '84 with the band because I had no time to learn the tunes, with just 4 weeks to go to the event. (which was very very annoying). The same fate occurred in '88 when the band were again invited to take part in the August & I was posted out in the May of that year.

I have many great events to remember however, with the band by the time I left Kinloss, which included:-

The handover of an RAF Victoria Cross to the RAF Museum, in a ceremony at Pitreavy Castle in Fife. (A good performance in a snow blizzard).

A “Fleet's in” weekend at Den Helder, Holland, where we were hosted by the Royal Dutch Navy.

Supreme Allied Commander (Atlantic) ceremony at US Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, USA.

50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, commemoration parade at Buckingham Palace.

Massed Pipes & Drums of the Royal Air Force. September 1990.

Battle of Britain fund raising weekends in Guernsey each September for 3 years.

40th Anniversay of the Liberation of the Channel Islands, celebration concert at St Peter's Port Guernsey.

Many Highland Games events around the Moray district in the Highlands.

A small contingent of RAF Kinloss Pipe Band at a Taste of Moray event, Brody Castle, 1987.

During our journey to the event in the USA, we flew in a Nimrod. As we flew past the Grand Banks area of Newfoundland a crewmember launched a Sonar Buoy. When I asked why I was told that it would be our ditching point should anything go wrong with the aircraft from that point on. I said I had only come for the party, not the swimming lessons.

 After a fantastic 4 years at a beautiful spot in the British Isles, ( & home ground), I was posted for a last tour to North Yorkshire & Leeming.

Great Days in a Real Band

Playing in the new band at Bury St Edmonds was one of the best experiences I have ever had. When we practiced in the hall at the factory the resonant sound was so intense you felt the roof would lift off. It was my first experience of wearing full highland dress as a piper.

We met on a Sunday morning & got some great tuition from quality pipers, many of whom came from the band at RAF Honington. I cannot praise the Bury band enough for the grounding they gave me in my playing, building on the good work done by those who sorted me out at Honington.


Its a good job you don't have to pay for this lot yourself, the cost back then was in the region of £2000 per uniform. The Whisky people at Glenmorison (near Loch Lomond) sponsored the band to help promote a new product.

The Glenmorison Pipe Band.

We performed all over the county & had no shortage of requests to attend a huge variety of events. I had hoped for a long career with them but the RAF had other plans & something of a shock in store for me.

Moving to Germany & Back again

Very shortly after, in early '75, I was posted to Laarbruch in Germany where I joined the remnants of the Station Pipe Band, which had been decimated by a number of postings.

For some reason unknown to me I was very nervous about letting anyone see what I was able to do, with very shaky fingers. I was told I would never make a piper, by the new Pipe Major. However I persevered.

It was while at this unit that I could have seriously dented my service career, by discussing technical details in a German pub. The topic of conversation was the famous Martin Baker Ejection Seat & how it had saved many lives. I was discussing how the sequence operated in the simulator & was pounced upon by an over-zealous young RAF policeman who thought he was on a good collar. Unfortunately for him I was talking to a Wing Commander who suggested the police officer should 'grow up' & recognise a 'threat to security' correctly.

The 'practice makes perfect' ethic on learning to play the pipes did start to work & I soon got to grips with the various movements associated with the basic notes, which were called Doublings and other Embellishments. However the new man in charge was not there too often as he had to come from a camp quite far away. He was also in the army & had other commitments. Consequently the newcomers were left to get on with it, getting help wherever possible from more experienced members.

A German learner seemed to be more interested in where I worked & what I did than what we were trying to do on the practice chanters. I became very suspicious of his motives & gave very ambiguous answers to any question.

I had a great time at Laarbruch, drove a terrific Opel Record car, had a lovely flat in the town of Weeze & toured the region extensively. It was at Larrbruch that we closed the Flight Simulator, dismantled it & returned with it to the UK.

Mind you, it's very strange how unexpected events can change the course of your life. The original intention in going to Germany was to take the simulator from there & install it at Akrotiri in Cyprus, replacing the old Lightening Flight Simulator.

As we prepared to go to Germany a war broke out between Greece & Turkey which ended in a divided Island. The roll of the Phantom aircraft was changed by the MoD & the planned 3 year tour in Cyprus fell through. Had it all gone to orginal plan I doubt I would have continued to learn to play the bagpipes. There was no band that I knew of out there.

Cyprus is a beautiful Island which was transformed by the war in '74. A massive task to replace pebble beaches with sand all along the Limassol/Larnica coastline & the building of hundreds of hotels brought a huge tourist trade to this part of the island for the first time. Previously everyone flocked to the north around Kyrenia & along the Pan Handle, which had beaches to die for.

I saw the transformation in the island when I went back there in '90, having previously been there in '71.

I returned to Wattisham in the UK in late '76, and eventually joined the RAF Honington Pipe Band in Suffolk. Here I discovered that I was making a lot of mistakes, & had to start again. That was very hard, trying to forget the errors & relearn to right way. However, as in Germany I was not deterred, & began to put things right. This time I had a good tutor, who was prepared to put in the time to help me get it right. The shakes had all gone.

The Early Years

MY PIPING LIFE

starts here.

written by

Pipe Major Bob Orr, (rtrd)

 After joining the RAF in '69, I trained at Swinderby & Cosford before heading north to Leuchars, trained as an L Mech NI. (that's electronics mechanic, navigational instruments). I later became an L Fitt NI, returning to 23 Sqn at Leuchars after a year away at Newton & Cosford on my fitters course.

During my time here as a fitter a certain elecrical trade Sgt was unexpectedly posted & vowed he would not go quietly. Consequently my card was marked, as they say, among others. This was set in stone when I had occasion to declare a 'QRA war bird' unserviceable due to a fuse which showed a serviceable condition under test but failed under load. He was the IC Technician whom I inadvertantly embarrased. 

I had enjoyed my time as a front line aircraft fitter with all of the ''sharp end" dramas which took place, such as when I got in the cockpit for the first time as 'brake man', advising the team leader that the eject seat was not safe, & being told to stop being a 'Pussy' & get on with it. 

So much for all the health & safety crap they teach you. 

On another  occasion during an exercise, having previously been told that the active taxiway was out of bounds to any traffic other than aircraft, I was ordered to drive down said taxiway, following an aircraft & challenged the order. I was told by the Chief, "Stuff the tower, we're at war." 

It was back at Leuchars on a 3rd posting in 1974 after the above reshuffles took place that my interest in Piping began to take shape.

An early days image. 

Originally I was working on the English Electric Lightning, otherwise known by the Yanks as the “Silver Luminum Keroseen Burnin' Death Trap”.

You can find out about this awesome aircraft at the following link. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Lightning


Flying this jet was once discribed as being "strapped to a sky rocket".

A story which would have emphasized this point, if it's true, was that of an engineering officer at RAF Leckonfield who was asked to do "slam checks" on a Lightning which had undergone a "major" sevicing. This entailed the engines being fired up & reheat engaged briefly, with the aircraft rolling forward before braking.

Only problem was they got stuck. The "pilot" only had an office chair in the cockpit & no canopy. He was supposedly forced to take off, fly a circuit & try to land. Far fetched it may be, but it would make a hell of a CV entry if it was true. Only those at Leckonfield back then would know.

Word has it there are still 3 of these awesome machines still thrilling the crowds, in South Africa, at a place called Thunder City.

My divisional officer, Russ Pengelli was a fighter pilot of some quality & distinction, & was also  the squadrons' & the RAF's Lightning Display Pilot. We polished his aircraft till it was a mirror. I have never seen anyone throw a Lightning round the sky like he did. Sadly he died some years later when his Tornado flew into the Irish Sea. 

Then we had the panicker. When the first engine failed to fire, instead of waiting till the ground crew mopped up any spilt fuel, this pilot would hit the tit for the second engine, scaring the ground crew to death when it lit up.


A visiting T Bird (twin seat) from another squadron was lit up like a Christmas Tree when the second engine basted a 20 foot flame into the gathering gloom of a night time take off, from under the port wing . It was very impressive. I have never seen aircrew evacuate an aircraft without the eject seat so fast.

We were sad to see the last Lightning ever built, tail letter "E" for Echo, have a double engine flame out on take off, & crash into the North Sea. It was the pilots' first solo flight. 


A good friend was extracted from a position between the insrument panel and the control column, after hearing a noise which sounded just like the firing sequence for the eject seat, while he had been working in the cockpit. He looked decidedly green. He must have moved like grease lightning. (pardon the pun)

Having been  “volunteered” because of the situation described above,  I was destined for a life in Flight Simulation, & was posted to the F4K (Navy variant) Phantom Flight Simulator, again at Leuchars, after another lengthy period of training.

It was here that I met with a playing Piper, Pete Mack, who took us to a military Tattoo at Grangemouth. I was hooked & he helped me get started, by giving me a practice chanter & the rudiments of the music associated with the Great Highland Bagpipe.

more to come later