The Pipe Band

A History of "D" Company Pipe Band, S.L.I.

Stuart loved the bagpipes (played well, of course). He was Pipe Major of  the 2nd North Saskatchewan Regiment Pipe Band.

A more recent member of the band wrote to him in 1992, requesting a history of the Pipe Band that made the small town of Kindersley, Saskatchewan, unique.  That letter is here, saved through Stuart's habit of printing out copies of the letters he wrote on his wordprocessor.

Stuart's piping instructors, Pipe Majors Edward Peden and William Murdoch, were two of the best pipers in the country. Stuart recorded some of his lessons on his ever-present reel-to-reel tape recorder, and these will be converted to a digital format at a later date.

Stuart credited his wife, Mary, for the sequence of events that led to his acquisition of the organ at Grace Church. It was she who found the ad for the old set of bagpipes for sale, which eventually led to Stuart's being in Winnipeg in July of 1955, at the precise time the church was to be demolished.



A History of Piobaireachd 

The text reproduced here is a transcription from Stuart's training at a 1955 Band School in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The names of the instructors are not known, or perhaps they were on the missing first page. This is a discourse on the History of Piobaireachd.
Three years after this was transcribed, I received an e-mail from a piper in Scotland, with the information that this material was first presented in a paper by Archibald Campbell of Kilberry, read before the Scottish Piping Society of London, on March 7, 1952.
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History of "D" Company, Saskatchewan Light Infantry Pipe Band

Letter to Jane Gibbs from Pipe Major Stuart Kolbinson, June 16, 1992

Dear Jane:

The Band was founded due to a hockey game in Saskatoon! We were visiting my parents in that city when we decided to take in a Quaker-Edmonton game. In the intermission there was to be a presentation of a trophy to the Saskatoon Hilltops football team. The crowd remained seated for this, when suddenly there came a great burst of pipe music and out came the Saskatoon Pipe Band, about six pipers, two side and one mid-size drums and the big bass. The ice surface amplified the sound - it was wonderful! After we got home I said I would like to play in a band. My wife Mary was reading the paper and said "There is a set of pipes for sale, fifty dollars." If Mary hadn't seen that ad, there would have been no band!
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A letter from Pipe Major Edward Peden

Saskatoon, Sask.
June 3rd, 1961


Hi Stuart,

Many thanks for your letter, I understand the delay and how things are your way. However, I have already found a boy who required the dress and he has taken it to see it it is possible to alter to fit. His is a Prince Albert Boy - Hugh Macpherson - who comes down once a week for lessons and I truly wish I had a dozen like him. He started around Christmas and I am hoping he will manage the Games here this year (August 5th, remember). He is doing My Home and Loch Katrine, he has not managed Strathspey and Reel yet. He and his Dad have five boys in Prince Albert all started and it will be Fall before I get them here, they are being taught the scale and a few exercises as that is all the Dad can manage. However, it is a grand effort.
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From Stuart's cousin Eldon Johnson, who continued to play for many years.

Kindersley
December 12, 1980


Dear Stuart:

Lieber freund! The only reason that I endeavor to type is that such as it is it is still more legible than my handwriting. I could send a voice recording on tape, but I wish to send a couple of objects for now.
Many thanks for your phone call on my birthday, at time of yours we were off on a few days holiday so missed it which I regret. I am sure your pipe organ will be functioning well and that you will be enjoying its music.

You may be interested in a report on the band and its members. You are its parent and even though some of the offspring seem somewhat wayward with wrong notes and things, the band is surviving as an entity.

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Letter from: L Col. (Ret) JL Moffat OMM, CD

September 18, 1998


To: Pipe Major Kolbinson

Dear Pipe Major:

Attached are my piping evaluations from the Calgary Games and the Canmore Games. I entered at level 4 which is the lowest level, and the Novice Piobaireachd. I surprised the judges, because usually when they encounter someone of my vintage (60 yrs young) in the piping competitive field, it is usually a very "tarry-fingered" piper. All judges were very positive, and told me that I should continue to compete.

Two of the judges asked me who taught me my basics, as they "were exceptionally well done by my teacher", and I told them about you. They were impressed. They emphasized that without this excellent grounding I would not have done as well as I did. They were all surprised. I don't know where I ranked in "Highland Wedding, the slow march (a tune composed by myself), and the retreat. Somewhere in the top 1/3 I would suspect. In Piobaireachd, I was fourth in Calgary, and either fourth or fifth in Canmore. The Piobaireachd judges were particularly impressed.

I have to get a new chanter, and replace the cracked drones to get ready for next year. The chanter reeds are different from 30 years ago. Gawd that seems like a long time.

So Pipe Major, you did a good job. I only really practised from April on, but plan to continue it and try again next year with better results I hope.

Airaghardt

Lynn