Hamilton Police Pipe Band bags title in pouring rain

By KAREN KAWAWADA

The driving rain made the drums sound like garbage cans in a downpour. The water and mud ran through the musicians' shoes as they marched.

But despite the weather, the young members of the Hamilton Police Pipe Band showed they were as indomitable as any Scots when they won the North American Pipe Band Championships on Saturday.

The band took the title in its division at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ont., the largest highland games held outside Scotland. Pipe bands came to the small town east of Ottawa from as far away as Alberta and Florida to vie for titles in five divisions, based on skill and experience.

Most of the 27 members - 17 pipers, 10 drummers - are teens, some as young as 12. The three-year-old band won the Grade Four division title against 15 other bands, most of them older and more experienced.

Burlingtonian Claire Haynes, 14, has been beating the snare drum for five years. But she had never played in weather quite like what she had to face this past weekend.

"It was hard because your sticks kind of slip out of your hands," she said.

"It was like you were standing under a waterfall."

Bagpipers like her brother Scott, 15, had to squeeze themselves into the back seats of cars to tune their moisture-sensitive instruments. Their heavy wool kilts got soggy and their feet squished through puddles. But then, all of the bands went through that.

"Our teacher just told us to focus and it was OK," said Haynes.

For her regular listening, Haynes prefers rock and punk bands like Blink 182 and Billy Tallent. But when she's playing hornpipes and jigs, they seem "really cool," saod the teenager.

It was the band's sixth straight win this summer. They have two more competitions to go, but they're already the strongest contenders to be named Ontario's champion supreme for the summer - the band with the most overall points.

"The kids have really had a Cinderella season this year," said Don Forgan, the band's senior pipe major and instructor.

Forgan, who also answers to "Detective," wasn't able to go because he was investigating a Hamilton murder. But he hopes to take the band to Glasgow for next year's world championships. The group is raising money for that trip.

Another Hamilton-area band also scored a win in Maxville. The Dofasco Pipe Band's drum corps was named the best in the higher Grade Three division. The band as a whole came seventh.

"It was an extremely challenging day for the pipes, given that the whole park was almost underwater," said Dofasco piper Keith McGrath.

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