GEORGETOWN
PIPE BAND
Est. 1942
Band Championships in Glasgow, where the girls made the town of Georgetown proud by bringing home the Christine Hardy Trophy as the best overseas band in their grade. Upon their return home, the band was awarded Georgetown Citizen of the Year honours.
The 1990’s brought many changes to the band, with the most significant being a return to the original name, The Georgetown Pipe Band. This was considered a necessary change if the band was to attract new members and continue to be a viable member of the Georgetown community.
In addition to its involvement in the local community, the band is also a regular participant in Scottish Highland Games and Pipe Band competitions each summer. 2007 saw the band complete its most successful season by winning the U.S. Championship in Alma, Michigan, the North American Championships in Maxville, Ontario, and by being crowned the “Supreme Champions” in its grade by The Pipers and Pipe Band Society of Ontario.
Today, the band is busy preparing for the upcoming competition season and looks forward to adding more successes to the band's rich history.
A brief history of the band...
The Georgetown Pipe Band is one of the oldest civilian pipe bands in the Province of Ontario, tracing its roots back to the 1930’s. With many of its players on active military service, the band was transformed from the Georgetown Pipe Band to the Georgetown Girls Pipe Band under the direction and instruction of the members of the original band. Wearing the MacGregor tartan, since that was the only tartan available to the band during the war, the “Girls” gave their first public performance on July 1, 1943. It might have been sooner but a shipment of pipes coming from Scotland was on a freighter torpedoed in the North Atlantic.
During the next two decades, the band travelled and performed throughout Ontario and the North Eastern United States and was honoured to perform at the inaugural flight of TransCanada Airlines, now Air Canada. As the original members retired, the ladies of the band became more involved in its leadership and direction. The band was active in parades, festivals, and competitions from one end of the province to the other, including participation in the Scottish World Festival at the CNE in Toronto.
In 1986 the band travelled to Scotland and made appearances at a Clan MacGregor International Reunion, Princess Street Gardens in Edinburgh, Portree, in Skye, and The World Pipe