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own Greater Victoria Police Pipe Band
(GVPPB) was among those participating.
The band entered the Grade 4A level and
placed 10th in its qualifier round. In the final
4A competition 1st place was taken by the
3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scot-
land, (previously identified as the Black
Watch). Back in Canada the GVPPB had
placed 1st overall in Grade 4 at both the Vic-
toria Highland Games and at the BC High-
land Games, in May and June respectively.
Here in BC there are five grades for
pipe bands, with Grade 5 being entry level
and Grade 1 being the highest level. In Scot-
land the grades are set by the Royal Scottish
Pipe Band Society and they are (from lower
to higher levels): Novice A, Novice B,
Grades 4A, 4B; Grade Juv; Grades 3A, 3B;
Grade 2; Grade 1. The levels are more differ-
entiated than in BC because there are a lot
more pipe bands in the UK than here.
There were 219 pipe bands that com-
peted at the World Pipe Band Championship
2017. Bands came mostly from the UK but
several were from Canada. In Grade 1 there
was Peel Regional Police (Greater Toronto
Area), 78th Fraser Highlanders (Toronto),
Dowco Triumph Street (Vancouver) and
Simon Fraser (Vancouver). Results in that
Grade: 1st - Inveraray & District: Scotland;
2nd - Field Marshall Montgomery: Northern
Ireland; 3rd - St. Laurence O’Toole: Eire.
SFU came 7th, which was the same placing
as in 2016. The next closest band from Can-
ada came 12th -- Dowco Triumph Street.
S E R V I N G T H E S C O T T I S H
C O M M U N I T Y O F
G R E A T E R V I C T O R I A
E D I T O R :
L A R R Y S C O T T World Pipe Band Championship 2017
SCOTTISH NEWSLETTER
S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E 2 : I S S U E 9
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E
World Pipe Band Championship 1
Upcoming Events: 2
Canada 150 and the Scots Connection 3
Greater Victoria
Police Pipe Band in Scotland 4
Contact Information: Scottish Groups 5
Cultural Centre
18%
Donations accepted at:
www.victoriahighlandgames.com
Tae Victory!
$2,000,000
Victoria Scottish
Cultural Centre
The other Canadian bands in Grade 4A
with GVPPB were Kamloops Pipe Band Society
and Hamilton Police Pipe Band. No band from
Canada finished in the top 12 in this category;
however, the College of Piping from Summer-
side, PEI took 1st in Grade 4B. The College also
fielded a Grade 2 band but it didn’t place.
Glasgow—While there
are always Canadian
pipe bands playing at the
annual World Pipe Band
Championship at Glas-
gow Green, this year
was special because our
GVPPB drummers at World’s. Photo: D. Reaville
Inveraray & District Pipe Band, 1st place in Gr. 1
at World Pipe Band Championship. Photo: BBC
Other Canadian bands at the World’s
were: Robert Malcolm Memorial—Vancouver
(Juv); College of Piping Band—Summerside
(Gr 2); North Stratton Pipe Band —Edmonton
(Gr 2); Society of St. Andrew — Fredericton
(Gr 4B); Sons of Scotland — Ottawa (Gr 4B).
As usual there were bands coming from
the U.S., N.Z. & Australia as well as those men-
tioned from Canada. More surprising were the
band entries from Argentina, Belgium, Nether-
lands, Denmark and Vienna, Austria. For all
official results of the World Championship go to
www.rspba.org/results/resultselector.php
2
Upcoming Events: September & October
Vancouver Island Piper’s Club
Program To Be Announced
October 14, 8:00 pm
Piper’s Club usually has a program
on first Saturday of each month.
(October 14 is exception.)
Venue is Sergeants Mess at the
Bay St Armoury, Victoria.
For parking enter from Field St
off Douglas, going north.
Admission is $10.00 Cash bar.
Irish Pilgrimage Tour
October 17—November 6, 2017 Vanessa Hammond — 250 415-9272
Pamphlet explaining trip is
available on request from address above.
Open House
Scottish Country Dancing Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Canmore
Highland Games September 2-3, 2017
Canmore, Alberta www.canmore highland games.ca
Brentwood Scottish Country Dancers
Classes Tuesday and Thursdays 10:00 am
Fun Fridays every second Friday at 7 pm
at the Centre—1229 Clarke Road
next to the library in Brentwood.
Come and try a Fun Friday for free on September 8th.
All ages welcome. Easy dances called.
Ceilidh Friday September 29th, 7:00 pm
Fundraiser for the Centre.
$5 per person. $10 for a family.
Refreshments provided.
Contact: [email protected]
Vancouver Island
Scottish Country Dance Society
Harvest Social
Saturday, October 28, 7:30
City Light Church Hall,
550 Obed Avenue.
Admission is $10.00.
Refreshments will also be served.
Most dances will be walked through.
The program will be published on our
website viscds.ca, in early September.
It will also appear in the September
edition of our VISCDS newsletter.
Free introductory class
7:30—9:30 pm
at the
City Light Church
550 Obed Avenue in Victoria.
Vancouver Island
Scottish Country Dance Society
www.viscds.ca
Seirm: Gaelic Music & Song September 30, 2017
Lake City Presbyterian Church
3841 NE 123rd St., Seattle, WA
Doors open 7:00 pm.
Music starts 7:30 pm.
$18 General, $10 Students & Seniors
This is a benefit concert to send Seattle’s
Gaelic choir (Seirm) off to compete in
Scotland in October.
OCTOBER 9, 2017
HAPPY
THANKSGIVING
While Canada 150 celebrations peaked on
July 1st, the whole year seems to be one of
reflection about our history as a country. As is
the case with most histories, there are dark
chapters as well as glorious ones. Depending
on which events are being remembered and by
whom, there are different viewpoints in a na-
tional history. The following article is re-
printed from The Scotsman, April 25, 2016,
highlighting a viewpoint on how Scots contributed to the
formation of Canada. The Scotsman may be stretching the
notion of Scottish ancestry if everyone who has one Scot in
the family tree has “Scottish heritage”. That’s how it ends
up asserting that Justin Trudeau is one of our prime minis-
ters with “Scottish roots” — based on Trudeau’s maternal
grandfather James Sinclair being born in Crossroads,
Banffshire, Scotland in 1908 before coming to Canada with
the family in 1911. With that qualifier, read on:
MORE than nine million Canadians claim to have
Scottish or Irish heritage, but what impact have their ances-
tors had on the shaping of the country? We look at how the
Scots helped shape Canada into the country it is today.
Thousands of Jacobites left Scotland after their defeat at the
Battle of Culloden, some forged a new life for themselves in
Canada along with Scots soldiers, those who lost their
homes during the Highland Clearances and people facing
persecution.
One of the main aspects Scots were involved in,
was the fur-trade in the 18th century. Scottish fur-trade ex-
plorers including Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser, and
John Rae established Canada’s boundaries. Ken Mcgoogan,
author of How the Scots Invented Canada and Celtic Light-
ning: How the Scots and the Irish Created a Canadian Na-
tion, explains that: ―Long before the Americans Lewis and
Clarke journeyed westward, Mackenzie became the first
explorer to travel overland to the Pacific coast. Rae, a Scot-
tish Orcadian who championed the native peoples, not only
discovered the unhappy fate of the 1845 Franklin expedi-
tion, but found the final link in the first navigable Northwest
Passage.‖
Ken’s work on the impact of Scots in Canada high-
lights five values he believes were imported with the fluc-
tuation of Scots to the country which includes independ-
ence, democracy, pluralism, audacity, and perseverance.
Scots were influential in shaping Canada politically. ―In
1867, at Confederation, they unified diverse British colonies
(now provinces) while laying the foundations of a unique
system of government‖, Ken explains.
―The leaders included John A. Macdonald, Can-
ada’s first prime minister, and George Brown, who estab-
lished Canada’s first national newspaper before becoming a
father of Confederation. In 1871, a ―Scotch West-Indian‖
named James Douglas brought British Columbia into Con-
federation.‖ Douglas believed that a railway was necessary
3
Canada 150 and the Scottish Connection
to link Vancouver to eastern Canada. The de-
velopment of the railway was crucial in Can-
ada’s progress and was conceived and financed
by Scots and remains one of their most impor-
tant contribution to the country. Macdonald,
whose grandfather had been cleared off his
croft in Sutherland, was once again involved
alongside George Stephen [b. Dufftown, Scot-
land] and Donald Smith [b. Forres, Scotland]. The crea-
tion of Canada’s education and banking systems were
helped by Scots including James McGill, John Strachan
and Peter McCutcheon McGill.
Of Canada’s 23 prime ministers since Confed-
eration, 14 have had Scottish roots - including current
political leader, Justin Trudeau. Ken adds: ―No matter
where you enter the history of Canada - through explora-
tion, politics, business, education, or literature – you find
Scots and their descendants playing a leading role.‖
Douglas Gibson, a Canadian editor, publisher and writer
- originally from Ayrshire - explains that many of the
greatest Canadian writers have Scottish heritage. ―But
many thousands of Lowland Scots came to Canada, so
that roughly five million Canadians now have family
links with Scotland‖, he explains. ―Many of their ances-
tors came to settle in what is now Ontario. ―Among them
were the Laidlaws, from the Ettrick Valley, who came in
1818. Several generations later young Alice Laidlaw,
married as Alice Munro, won Canada’s first Nobel Prize
for Literature.
―Why did the Scots leave Scotland? The usual
reasons, for a well-educated people crowded into a poor
country, with Clearances an exacerbating factor, Why
Canada? Because Canada was off there to the West, big,
and empty, and eager for people, as the fur trade run by
Scots opened it up. A very fine, on-going relationship.
I’m proud to be part of it.‖
Reprinted from The Scotsman - April 2016
Lord Strathcona (Donald Smith) drives the last spike of
the Canadian Pacific Railway at Craigellachie, BC on
November 7, 1885. Picture: wikipedia.org
4
Greater Victoria Police Pipe Band in Scotland
Glasgow City Chambers — George Square, Glasgow. Photo: L. Scott (2011)
GVPPB in Glasgow City Chambers—August, 2017
Photo: Lillian Magee
Bass drummer Doug Thorsteinson being interviewed
by the BBC in George Square. Photo: Lillian Magee
Victoria — ―Overall we had a very successful
trip. While we did not make the prize list at the Worlds
Pipe Band Championships, we did make a very credible
showing on a rainy early morning for a band that has
only been competing for a few years.
We were accorded the honour by the Royal
Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA ) of being one
of the 6 bands to lead on the other bands at the end of
the day for the concluding ceremonies.
We were also part of an RSPBA sponsored
massed band parade through the streets of Glasgow con-
cluding in George square, where we performed indi-
vidually and were invited to lunch by the Lord Provost
of Glasgow in the stunningly beautiful City Chambers.‖
(See photo to right.)
Submitted by GVPPB Drum Sgt. Colin Magee
Greater Victoria Police Pipe Band warming up and marching on the field, World Pipe Band Championship 2017.
Photos: Dave Reaville
5
Scottish Culture:
Saltire Society of Victoria: Contact is the Provost,
Irwin Henderson 250 382-1779 or the society’s Scriv-
ener, Gordon Robinson 250-477-8317.
Sons of Scotland Benevolent Association: www.sonsofscotland.com For inquiries, Grand Chief is
Keith Feir. Contact 250 652-5773 or [email protected]
Victoria Gaelic Choir: The group sings in both Gaelic
and English. www.victoriagaelicchoir.com
Victoria Highland Games Association: President is Jim
Maxwell. Many volunteer opportunities exist. For info
see www.victoriahighlandgames.com
The Celtic Connection: Burnaby based tabloid publish-
ing since 1991. www.celtic-connection.com
Websites About Scotland:
Scottish Review is edited by journalist Kenneth Roy,
giving a weekly sampling of current news stories in Scot-
land. You can sign up for free. www.scottishreview.net
Rampant Scotland is a site begun in 1996 and written by
Alan Scott, a Glasgow-area resident who has lived in
Scotland all his life. He collects both news items and a
variety of photos of all things Scottish. Visit his site at
www.RampantScotland.com/letter.htm
Dance Instruction:
Brentwood Scottish Country Dancers: contact
[email protected] for more detailed informa-
tion. Classes happen at Brentwood Centre.
Vancouver Island Scottish Country Dance Society: www.viscds.ca Weekly classes for various levels of
ability. Further information may be had from Dora
Dempster, [email protected]
Bon Accord Highland Dancers: Lynne Griffith
Tel. 250 479-7804 [email protected]
Glengarry Highland Dancers: Carolyn Phillips-Cusson.
Tel. 250 758-0208 or email for information to
Kathleen Laurie School of Highland Dance:
Tel. 250 213-9627 [email protected]
Katie Dean School of Highland Dance:
H 250-920-3513 cell 250-514-8110 [email protected]
O’Brien School of Irish Dancing: Teachers — Mairead
O’Brien/Crystal vanBoven. www.obrienirishdance.com
Tel. 604 340-2370.
Victoria School of Irish Dance: www.victoriairishdancers.com Contact Alison Paladini
Tel. 250 888-9421 or [email protected]
Victoria Area Pipe Bands:
BC Pipers` Association serves solo Highland Bagpipers,
Scottish Drummers and Pipe Bands in British Columbia,
Washington, and Oregon. www.bcpipers.org
Castle Cary Pipes and Drums.
www.castlecarypipesanddrums.ca
443 Squadron RCAF Pipe Band. P/M Stephen Kelly
[email protected] or [email protected]
Greater Victoria Police Pipe Band. www.gvppb.com
Pipe Major James W. Troy; Drum Major Randy Evans.
Pipe Band of the Canadian Scottish Regiment
(Princess Mary’s). Drum Major Glen Ereaut, contact at
Saanich Peninsula Pipe Band.
www.saanichpeninsulapipeband.blogspot.ca
78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band.
www.78fraservictoria.ca/ Pipe Major Steve Kelly Sr.
2136 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps Pipes and
Drums. www.2136cadets.ca
VanIsle Caledonia Pipe Band. Pipe Major Cole
Griffiths 250 857-5260 www.vanislecaledonia.com
Local Businesses With Celtic Flavour:
Bard and Banker Scottish Pub, 1022 Government St,
Victoria www.bardandbanker.com
Fraser Orr’s Butcher and Deli, 108-1931 Mt Newton
Cross Rd., Saanichton. Haggis, Scotch pies, etc.
www.fraserorrsbutcher.com
Freedom Kilts, 1919 Fernwood Rd, Victoria
www.freedomkilts.com
Irish Linen Stores, 1019 Government St, Victoria
www.irishlinenvictoria.com
Irish Times Pub, 1200 Government St, Victoria
www.irishtimespub.ca
Island Bagpipe, 5775 Alder Way, Nanaimo
www.islandbagpipe.com Bagpipes and much more.
Lion Rampant Scottish Pub, 6777 Beaumont Ave.,
Duncan. www.lionrampant.ca
North of Hadrian’s Kilts and Celtic Clothing,
264 Island Highway, Victoria www.northofhadrians.com
Out of Ireland Irish Importers, 1000 Government St.,
Victoria: www.outofireland.ca
If you would like to be on the email mailing list for the
Scottish Newsletter, please advise Larry Scott by email at
[email protected] Your email address will not be
shared. Distribution is by email only and is free of
charge. Businesses are listed as a community service.