E. Division Pipe Band heading for Vernon to get “tattooed”

This is normally the time of the year when many (non-competitive) pipers and drummers are packing away their instruments, grabbing their umbrella’s and coolers and heading to the beach for some R&R. After months of practice, the spring and early summer months bring the highland games, parades and performances with the latter part of summer a time to take a break. Not so, for the RCMP E.Division Pipe Band.

This upcoming weekend, the band is making the five hour trek to the interior to participate in the Okanagan Military Tattoo. Now most people who read this blog are likely familiar with a military musical tattoo. So, for the uninitiated … a musical tattoo is a demonstration of military drumming, piping and skills. It’s called a ‘tattoo’ because when the British Army was fighting in Belgium 300 years ago, soldiers were called in from the pubs each night for curfew, or Doe den tap toe, Dutch for ‘Turn off the tap’.

There is of course the granddaddy of tattoo’s, the famous Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo each year in Scotland. Nova Scotia hosts its own Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in July, and this year, the Okanagan Military Tattoo will be added to that list. Hundreds of dancers, musicians, pipers and drummers will participate in the inaugural Okanagan tattoo at Vernon’s Kal Tire Centre. Performances are scheduled for Friday evening, August 1 and Saturday afternoon, August 2. Other pipe bands participating in the tattoo include the Kalamalka Pipe Band and the Aaron Campbell Memoiral Pipe Band. The Royal Canadian Artillery Band has already arrived and has been practising at Silver Star Mountain, one of the major sponsors of the event. For a complete list of other performers, click here. For further information and/or to buy tickets, please click here. 

Here is the schedule for the weekend and location:

Friday, August 1, 2014 7 PM. Doors open at 5:30 PM

Saturday, August 2, 2014 Matinee. Doors open 12:30 with show at 2 PM.

Kal Tire Place
3445 43rd Avenue
Vernon, BC

RCMP Tartan Day Concert April 5

The RCMP E. Division Pipe Band and the Buffalo Celtic Music Society are proud to present:

  Tartan Day Concert 2014

          “A Highland Celebration”.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Riverside Palace Banquet Hall, 14431 Knox Way, Richmond, BC V6V 2Z1

Cocktails: 6pm. Dinner: 7pm

Featuring:

• RCMP E. Division Pipe Band
• The Tam O’Shanter Dancers,
• Stave Falls Highland Dancers
• Scotch tasting, silent auction, DJ Pavel and maybe a square set or two.

Dress:  Highland formal, military, Red Serge & tartan.

Cost: $60

Tickets available by calling: 604-308-1424 or 778-838-6366

Getting down to business in 2014: Suppers, concerts and tattoo’s.

The last Christmas lights have been taken down, the plastic Santa Claus and his elves packed away and the tree chipped into mulch. It’s time to get down to the business of 2014.

With the memories of Christmas and New Year starting to fade, it’s band preparation time for a very busy 2014, starting with the traditional Robert Burns Dinner celebrations at the end of January. This year the RCMP E. Division Pipe Band will kick off the new year on January 25 as part of the 2014 Tam O’Shanter Dancers Burns Night celebration at the Star of the Sea Community Hall on Pacific Ave., in White Rock. This is always an entertaining and enjoyable night of music and dancing, and will be the first public event for the E. Division Pipe Band in 2014.

Parading in Surrey, Vancouver and Quebec City

RCMP E. Division Pipe Band, Canada Day Parade, Vancouver 2012

Ah summer. Officially it starts June 21, but with the pleasant spring weather recently, the RCMP pipe band has been able to get out into the great outdoors where the soft summer breezes mingle with the pleasant sounds of a great pipe band running through their musical repertoire.

This is also the competition season for many other BC pipe bands, and they too are playing outside in various locations, preparing for the next big event, the Coquitlam BC Highland Games June 22.

We are busy with a number of performances this summer, including a trip to Quebec. The Surrey RCMP Auxiliary graduation ceremony is this Saturday in Cloverdale, and for many member of the band, it’s a great way to start the BC Highland Games day. On Canada Day, the band will be front and center at the Vancouver Canada Day parade through the streets of Vancouver, leading an RCMP troupe and a number of other RCMP units.