Appointment of Ian Duncan as the New Pipe Major

Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band are delighted to announce the appointment of Ian Duncan as the new Pipe-Major. The band and all its members would like to express their thanks to the former Pipe-Major David Barnes for his time and commitment and wish him every success in any new venture he undertakes.

Band members are positive about the future and look forward to regaining the success and momentum previously enjoyed in the band's long and illustrious history

Summer Programme

The band's busy summer programme continues with preparations well underway for this year's World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow on 15th August. At the recent European Championships at Inverclyde the band finished 10th place in the grade one contest.

The band would also like to wish Deputy Chief Constable Tom Halpin all the best in the future as he retires from the Force in August and would like to thank him for his support and commitment during his tenure as Band President.

Death of Former Pipe Major Les Watson

It is with great regret that we intimate the death on 16th August 2009, of retired officer Leslie Stuart Watson, aged 50 years.
Having joined Lothian and Borders Police in 1986, Les worked predominantly within "D" Division, at Leith, Drylaw and Portobello, but was latterly based at the West End Police Station before his retirement in 2008, having completed just under 23 years service.

Les was a piper in the Police pipe band for majority of his service, being Pipe Major of Lothian and Borders Police Pipe Band between 1994 and 1996, later returning as a piper within the corps.
He also became tutor and Pipe Major of Craigmount High School Novice Juvenile Pipe Band, where he led them to many successes on the contest field.

As a youth, Les enjoyed great success in solo piping contests winning both the World Juvenile Solo Champion title at Ayr and the Inverchapel Challenge Trophy for Piobaireachd at Cowal Games. He also won the Ayr, Dumfries & Galloway branch Juvenile and Adult solo titles on the same day.
As an adult he gained 3rd place in the Silver Medal contest at the Northern Meeting in Inverness.

He is survived by his children Iona and Duncan.

The band has had a very busy start to 2009 with visits to France, Germany and Italy since the start of the year.

In February the band were delighted to return to Paris to take part in the Ecosse a Montmartre festival and renew old acquaintances with our hosts in the Paris Fire Brigade. The band were once more invited to play the national anthem at the Stade de France for the start of the France v Scotland Six Nations tie, as well as a return to the Moulin Rouge where they were joined by the Bagad du Lann-Bihoue from Lorient, Brittany.

In March a mini-band flew to Germany to take part in a British commerce event in Dortmund.

May then saw the band travel to Sassari, Sardinia where they had been invited to take part in the Cavalcata Sarda, a huge event that promotes the traditional music and dance of the island.

On the contest front the band were disappointed with their placing at the first major championship of the season after turning in a very creditable performance.

They are looking forward to traveling to Northern Ireland later this month to compete in the British Championships in Banbridge.

August has been a hectic month for the band with two major championships as well as the traditional performances in Prices Street during the Edinburgh Festival.

Friday 22nd of August saw the band perform along with members of the Singapore Police Band. A large crowd enjoyed a joint performance by the Force Pipe Band and members of both the Singapore Police Women’s Pipe Band and pipers from the Force’s battalion of Ghurkhas. This was also the last Princes Street performance for PC’s Davie Brown and Brian Lothian who are both retiring from the Force. After the performance both bands returned to Fettes HQ where they were welcomed by Deputy Chief Constable Tom Halpin who exchanged gifts with the Singapore Band’s Director of Music, Superintendent Amri Amin.

Another August visitor to Fettes was former “Corrie” Ronnie Brown who dropped in to a band practice to rehearse “Flower of Scotland” with the Pipe Band. The band will back the singer at the opening ceremony of the Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival at Edinburgh Castle on 1st September. The song was written by the other “half” of the Corries, Ronnie’s late friend Roy Williamson and is now played as the nation anthem at Scotland’s international rugby matches as well as countless other sporting and social events. Ronnie can be seen with Pipe Major Davie Barnes and Leading Drummer Arthur Cook in the gallery section along with photographs taken on the day of the band’s performance with the Singapore Police Band

Due to the retirement of the band President, Detective Chief Superintendent Roger Orr, we are happy to announce that from 1st February, he will be succeeded by Deputy Chief Constable Tom Halpin. From the same date, band Secretary, Chief Inspector John Rae will also be standing down and will be replaced by Sergeant Gordon McCreadie, who will be known to many as a long standing member of the band's drum corps.

The band would like to wish Mr Orr a long and happy retirement and would like to thank Chief Inspector Rae for his hard work over the past 8 years.

The band held it's AGM on 13th December and Band Secretary; Chief Inspector John Rae was delighted to announce that the band had again been invited to play at Murryfield Stadium for Scotland's home ties in the Six Nations Rugby in 2008.

Constable Stuart Macmillan also announced his retirement from the band as he is due to take up a new position within the Specialist Support Unit in the New Year.  PM Davie Barnes thanked Stuart or his efforts over the years, both as a player and in his role as Assistant Secretary/Quartermaster.

The band has had a successful season on the competition field, showing a vast improvement in recent years. They were however disappointed to narrowly miss out on a place in the final play - off at the World Pipe Band Championships that were held in Glasgow in August.

Since then the band has been performing once again at Estes Park, Colorado, USA at the annual Scottish & Irish Festival as well as making their first visit to Herning in Denmark, where they took part in a very successful Indoor Tattoo.

The band is off to Paris in March to perform at a number of events, culminating in a pre-match appearance at the Stade de France for the France - Scotland rugby match.

The band was delighted to accept an invitation earlier this year to return in September to the famous Estes Park Higland Games in Colorado, USA where they performed previously in 2005. We look forward to meeting many friends, old and new.

We are delighted to announce that Davie Barnes has been appointed as Pipe Major of the band. In welcoming Davie we look forward to a new era in the band's proud history and aspire to once more achieve success at the highest level of pipe band competition. As the winter practice season is upon us now is the time for pipers and drummers interested in joining the band to contact us via the links on this site.