Left to right PM Alex Robertson, Moray Robertson, Doug Robertson, Hugh Cameron, Jim Stewart, Bill Ince, Alex Brewster, Louis Yeager, John Modrowski, Athol Robertson, Ken Spence, Dave Constant, (Missing from Photo – Gail Brown, Nigel Moore, Jim Housen, Jim Fryer.
WRPPB can be traced back to the 1960’s in Woodstock, Ontario and the Highland House Pipe Band. Alex Robertson was a WWII veteran who had fought along the Burma Road. He was as hard as nails and drank Scotch and milk! The stories! His best advice to me was that I could become a better piper by watching and listening to others, if only to learn what not to do. It was good advice. Alex put together a band of young kids that included Hugh Cameron, Gail Brown, Jim Stewart, Dave Constant, just to name a few. When the town of Woodstock persuaded Alex to find a better place to rehearse the band, they found a home in Galt (now Cambridge) as The Highland Fusiliers of Canada. The won the Grade 2 contest at Cowal in 1971 and were upgraded to Grade 1 in Ontario, playing against very powerful City of Toronto and Clan MacFarlane pipe bands. Alex retired and In 1972 they became The Waterloo Regional Police Pipe Band with Duncan MacLaughlan as Pipe Major. Duncan had come out of the Shotts and Dykehead organization and was a great organizer and ambassador, founding the Cambridge Highland Games.
I joined the band in September 1972, right after the Toronto Scottish World Festival. There was an abundance of talent within the band, all willing to help bring my brother (Will) and I up to standard. The band was blessed with an outstanding drum corps and over time the pipes jelled and we were challenging Clan MacFarlane for top spot. Truth be told, The Clan squeaked by us on several occasions by virtue of “the attack”. In those days, 10 points was awarded for the attack. We generally lost 2 points on the attack as one piper had a challenge getting two hands on the chanter. When the results for the day were made known, The Clan would beat us by a fraction. We did manage to beat them once in Teeswater with the final tune of the medley being the outstanding jig, Alan McPherson of Mosspark. I remember Bill Sawyer coming over to the band to congratulate us. Little did I know that years later I’d be playing with Bill in Clan MacFarlane and still later with the Niagara Police.
1-Alex Brewster, 2-Gavin Berry, 3-Ken Spence, 4-Will Bowen, 5-Nigel Moore, 6-Duncan MacLaughlan, 7-John Modrowski, 8-Jim Stewart, 9-Tom Bowen, 10-Allan MacColl, 12-Ringo Bowen, 13-Hugh Cameron, 14-?, 15-Dave Constant, 16-Bill Ince
Our numbers dwindled and PM Jake Watson took a very small band into the 1979 Scottish World Festival in Grade 2. We had a couple pipers that didn’t show for the contest so Jake seven pipers into the circle, with one piper playing a twig. We won playing Warnock chanters, The Highland Wedding MSR, and a huge sound. That was my last contest with WRPPB as work took me away to Edmonton, Alberta for five years.
