When a group of schoolboys gathered together to form the Bermuda Cadet Corps pipe and drums, they had no idea it would become a lifelong passion that has taken them all over the world.

But the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band has now done just that, and invitations for the band, with its unique ?Calypso Set?, now have more invitations to play at home and abroad than they can handle.

The Pipe Band, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with several events this weekend, grew out of two bands ? the Bermuda Cadets Pipe Band and the Bermuda Pipe Band, which was formed four years later. They formally amalgamated in 1993.

Piper Dr. George Cook said both bands possessed their own traditions of community service and esprit de corps, which had their roots in the British Garrison at Prospect which closed in the late 1950s.

?The older of the two parents appeared on the scene in July, 1955, when the Pipes and Drums of ?A? Company, Bermuda Cadet Corps (BCC), paraded for the first time at Warwick Camp during the annual camp of cadets from Mount St. Agnes Academy, Saltus Grammar School and Warwick Academy,? he said.

?Credit for the band?s coming into being rests with Captain Arthur Card, the then Officer Commanding, BCC. In realising the creation of something completely different from the earlier cadet drum and bugle bands, Arthur had some close collaborators: Henry Hallett, headmaster of Saltus and a BCC officer; and Timothy Card, Arthur?s brother, who had served in The Essex Scottish Regiment, a Canadian highland unit, during the Second World War. That trio was the band?s principal ?support team?,? Dr. Cook said.

The necessary funds were raised for uniforms and equipment with the assistance of the Lions Clubs.

?The pipe band was not on the ?establishment?,? said Dr. Cook. ?The origin of the idea of a pipe band, however, is accorded by Arthur to a cadet corps instructor, Corporal Patrick Coyle, a Gordon Highlander then serving in a detachment of the Highland Brigade, which made up the garrison at Prospect from 1949 to 1953.

?Because of those early associations, the band adopted the regimental tartan of the Gordon Highlanders, which the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band (BIPB) wears today, and has run on loosely military lines as a community service ? and not a competition ? pipe band.?

Arthur Morris, who learned the pipes at St. Andrew?s School in Canada, was the first pipe instructor. The first Pipe Major, however, and the band?s driving force for the next 38 years, was C. Denis Stuart, who was known affectionately to many as Uncle Stu. His record of public service was recognised with an MBE in 1978.

?Denis was a largely self-taught piper, who had enhanced his innate skill by practice with pipers from the Pictou Highlanders of Nova Scotia, and the Queen?s Own Cameron Highlanders who served in Bermuda during the War.?

Soon after taking on the responsibility of creating a pipe band from scratch he was joined by Bert Brown, of the King?s Own Scottish Borderers. Drumming and dancing instruction was provided by Major (Ret.) Bill Horlington, formerly of the Northumberland Fusiliers. ?That trio created Bermuda?s first playing pipe band.? said Mr. Cook.

Remembrance Day 1956 marked the band?s first public parade in which they had the honour of leading Bermuda?s war veterans on and off parade ? an event that became an annual appearance for the next two decades.

The band found themselves being called upon to perform at a growing number of public, commercial and private events.

?From the start, highland dance was a feature and at first a piper, Jimmy Smith, who had been taught by Bill Horlington, provided the spectacle.

?However, in 1975, the first lady dancer, Sandy Spurling, appeared and was soon joined by others. More recently, the band has had the fortune to see a steady stream of young people coming out to add much colour and movement to the performances.?

In 1959, the Bermuda Pipe Band was formed in 1959. They wore the Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) tartan.

Its first public performance was in the Bermuda Floral Pageant on April 25, 1963. At first the band was largely composed of members of the Bermuda Police and the Prison Services and other local enthusiasts.

?The band also included some who were formerly in the Cadets Pipe Band,? said Dr. Cook.

The BPB?s early Pipe Majors were Bob Leitch, Bert Stewart and Bill Somerville, who had brought their piping skills with them from Scotland. They laid the foundations for their local successors, Bill Huntly-Playle and Roddie Barclay.

?Again, Bill Horlington provided drumming instruction and Wilfrid Hall played a critical supporting role,? he said. ?The band was soon performing at a variety of venues in Bermuda, and, over time, became popularly known as ?The Bermuda Police Pipe Band?.

?While that was never their official name, the association with the Police Service was strong. They regularly participated in the Police Service?s passing out and ceremonial parades and that tradition is carried on by the BIPB to the present day.?

As the years passed the two bands were increasingly called upon by the tourism industry and they performed in hotels, aboard various cruise ships, and at visitors? cocktail parties, dinners and dances.

Both bands also regularly appeared in the Easter Parades/Floral Pageants of the 1960s, and provided innumerable public service performances on behalf of community organisations.

With the discontinuance of the BCC, the ?Bermuda Cadets Pipe Band? carried on as a group of civilian volunteers.

?In 1965, the drummers were presented by the pipe band of The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers with the grey hackles, which they proudly wear in distinction from the black and white cock feathers worn by the pipers.

?Meanwhile, the formation of The Bermuda Regiment, in 1965, saw the Bermuda Cadets Pipe Band and the Bermuda Pipe Band playing, separately and jointly, alongside the Regiment?s Band and Corps of Drums in the Beat Retreats.

?Thus began a 40-year tradition of combined appearances ,? Mr. Cook said, including local tattoos, the Queen?s Silver Jubilee celebrations in June, 1977 and music festivals at the National Stadium; amongst others.

On the lighter side, since 1974, the BCPB, and subsequently the BIPB, have donned outrageous costumes to perform at the Non-Mariners? Race as the Calypso Pipe Band and played the Calypso Set Linstead Market, Brown Skin Girl, All Day, All Night, with Marianne now played regularly as a novelty piece.

?Another tradition for many years, now sadly discontinued, involved playing in the new year at sundry locations across the islands, starting in St. George?s at David Frith?s pre-party party and winding up at The Reefs, in Southampton, where proprietor and former piper, David Dodwell, was hauled out year after year to play Scotland the Brave.?

The Cadets Pipe Band also performed abroad, starting in 1959 at a Lions International Convention in New York City, and at Highland Games on the US East Coast and in Canada through the 1960s and 1970s.

The band also travelled abroad to promote Bermuda tourism, this time through performances at the famous Abercrombie & Fitch department store.

One of the most memorable trips ccurred in July/August, 1984, with a two-week tour of Scotland orchestrated by drummer and lone Scot ? David Brown.

More trips have followed, including participation in the Smithsonian Institution?s annual Folklife Festival on the Mall, in Washington D.C. when Bermuda was featured in 2001, and an invitation to the renowned Nova Scotia International Tattoo, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There they secured a blackout performance of the Calypso Set.

?The most recent international performance came in January, 2005, at the Musikschau der Nationen, in Bremen, Germany,? said Dr. Cook. ?As part of a Bermuda contingent, the BIPB combined with the Bermuda Regiment Band and Drums, National Gombey Troupe, and steel pan player, Robert Symons.

?Bermuda?s performance, including the Calypso Set, was rated by the audiences as the best in the show ? from amongst units from Germany, Belarus, USA, France, Holland, Norway, Turkey and Singapore.

?That was no mean achievement and represents a portent for the future.

?Such international appearances, and recognition for Bermuda, flowed directly from the benefits coming out of the union of 1993.

?As a result of the Halifax (2003) and Bremen (2005) appearances, Bermuda has not only been invited for return engagements, but additionally, to appear in tattoos in Norfolk, Virginia, Birmingham, England, and Hamburg, Germany,? he said.

?Given the strains thereby placed on a small group of volunteers with numerous other responsibilities, future international appearances must be prioritised while still maintaining the many local performances.

?The Bermuda Islands Pipe Band faces the next 50 years with the confidence born of a proud history of the past 50 years.?

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