Bands close ranks to salute veterans
Two area bands will once again join forces to honour veterans with a special concert.
The sixth annual Highland Salute to Veterans will bring together the Truro Concert Band, and the Black Watch Association (Atlantic) Pipes and Drums, part of the pipe and drum contingent of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo.
The pipe band is led by George Macintosh. Musical Director of the Truro Concert Band is Ken Henderson.
The concert is Saturday, Oct. 27 at 3 p.m., at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall on Brunswick Street in Truro. The program has enough variety to please a wide audience – concert band numbers, songs from the time of The Great War, and a wide variety of traditional pipe music.
This marks an earlier date for this annual event for this year. The Black Watch Association Pipe & Drums will be in Belgium during Veterans Week. They have been invited to recreate the Black Watch Band that participated in a victory parade through the Belgian town of Mons in November 1918.
Macintosh says he is “especially honoured to be re-enacting a piper from that era who immigrated from Scotland to Canada and enlisted in the Black Watch of Canada.”
Three from the black Watch Association Pipe Band in Nova Scotia will be participating in the Mons parade: Drummer Kevin Macdonald, Halifax; Piper Michael Sears, Halifax; and Piper George Macintosh, Truro.
“We will be re-enacting the 42nd Battalion Black Watch Pipe Band, wearing 1918 uniforms and using restored rope tension drums – the same drums that were used in 1918,” said Macintosh. “Each of us has been assigned to the role of one of the original members of the band.”
They will be in France and Belgium for a week, and will attend several ceremonies including Vimy, the Menin Gate, and a number of cemeteries, culminating in a re-enactment of this parade Nov. 11.
“Audiences seem to especially enjoy the tunes that have the small pipe and drum band and the concert band join together in a unique musical experience,” said Henderson. “We’re also providing a chance for all to sing along the familiar songs that helped keep spirits up during a challenging time in our history a century ago.
“This series of annual concerts has given band members a chance to rediscover the music bands were playing a century ago.”
Veterans and their spouses or caregivers are invited to attend free of charge. Others will be asked to make a donation; $10 is suggested. Proceeds will go to the Poppy Fund.