Dysart and Dundonald Pipe Band

The Dysart and Dundonald Pipe Band has, in its long history, risen from a junior band in the tiny village of Dundonald, Fife to achieve rapid and constant success on the 1970s, winning championships in grades III and II and culminating in two winning performances at the World Pipe Band Championships in 1977 and 1978 in Grade I. Founded in 1929, the band has gone through many ups and down as well as name and leadership changes. Its success is often attributed to the band's policy of training its own pipers from a young age.

History

After going through two pipe majors and a break during World War II, the band's performance was helped significantly by receiving sponsorship from the workers of the Dundonald Colliery. Each miner deducted a penny a week from his pay to help increase the band's funds. With this support, the band won the Juvenile Championship at Cowal in 1952.

The band continued to achieve success, winning the Grade III World Championships in 1953 and the Grade II World Championships in 1958. This, however, was to be their peak performance for two decades. In 1965 the Dundonald Colliery closed and both the band and the village lost their primary means of support. Fortunately, the blow was slightly off set when the Frances Colliery in Dysart adopted the band.

In 1966 Robert Shepherd was appointed Pipe Major and a year later the band began to train young players, marking the start of the "Youth Policy". This idea was very successful, and the...
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