It has grown from a small group of police officers looking to play music together to one of the more successful and diverse musical organizations around.

The band was first organized in 1961 for a local parade. Without the funds in place to buy costly kilts and other traditional piping gear, the band of some 20 pipers and drummers marched and played wearing dress police uniforms.

Over the years the band has been under the direction of such notable Pipe Majors as George Henderson, Sandy Keith and Gord MacFarlane.

Though continually sponsored by the Hamilton Police Service, the band has evolved and grown to include non-members of the police, and more recently has developed a large, very active youth program.

Along with parades, services and other public events, the band has been involved in musical competitions at highland games and Scottish festivals in both Canada and the United States - winning many times.

Most recently in 2001 the band won the title of Grade Three Ontario Champion Supreme. That band moved up to Grade 2 in 2002 and finished the year winning the famed Fergus Scottish Festival and the Sarnia Highland Games. Faced with an extremely talented set of competing bands, the Grade 2 band folded in Sept. 2003.

But the band's winning traditions continued under the Grade 4 band, which won the Canadian championship in June 2003.

A year later, the Grade 4 band again won the Canadian title, as did the fledgling Grade 5 band. In the summer of 2004, the Grade 4 band celebrated its first win at Maxville, the long-time site of the North American Pipe Band Championships.

In 2005, the Grade Four band was upgraded to Grade Three, and again won the Canadian title, as well as the games at Kincardine and Chatham. The band left the Ontario circuit in mid-summer to travel to Scotland, winning the prestigious North Berwick Highland Games and finishing 9th at the World Championships in Glasgow.

Arguably the biggest moment in the band's history came at the Worlds, as the band's snare drum corps won the World title, besting 28 other bands from numerous countries.

The band competed again in Grade Three on the Ontario circuit in 2006, and swept every contest it entered - winning the Canadian and North American titles and coming out on top in contests that involved most of the top bands at that level in North America.

Success on the musical playing field means the band will continue to evolve and grow. A group of youngsters are now learning the basics of piping and drumming and will form the basis of a new Grade 5 band, while the existing bands are competing in Grades 2 (probably) and 4 in 2006.

Under the overall direction of Pipe Major Don Forgan, a Detective with the Hamilton Police Service, Pipe Major Peter Aumonier and lead drummer John Gaudet, the band and the music both have a very strong, bright future.

Photos from the band's archives: