Bands

This band was developed by Ross Inglis, a young Dundee based piper, who had a vision to start up a new pipe band which would create accessible music education for any individual with an interest on playing pipes and drums regardless of prior knowledge/skill. An inclusive Youth Music Initiative is to sit alongside the Pipe Band, which will provide opportunities to young people, particularly those with additional support needs, to become involved in learning Pipes and Drums. Ross, who has a learning disability and Autism, was awarded a lifetime Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturing & Commerce (RSA) in 2016 as part of collaboration between the RSA and the Scottish Commission for Learning Disabilities (SCLD). Ross has used his award as the springboard for the development of his long-held ambition to develop accessible Pipe music.

Band members will also be supported to study for music and tutoring qualifications in association with the RSPBA.

Thank you so much for your email, it was a great way to start our day and your support is so very, very appreciated.  We are at the start of a very long journey and getting off the ground is the hardest part.  I’m so happy that the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust is supporting us at this crucial stage.  Your fantastic contribution will go towards the cost of books and allow us to deliver what we intend to be an amazing programme.  I assure you that all our students as they progress through the learning journey will learn about Gordon and his music and I know it will be an inspiration to them as it has been to so many young pipers.

On behalf of the children and Board of Management of Govan Schools Pipes & Drums Association I would like to thank you and the Trustees of the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust most sincerely for your extremely generous donation which I confirm receipt of into the GSPDA bank account on 25th August.

This money will be put to the most practical of uses of providing free bagpipe and drum tuition to approximately 100 disadvantaged children in Govan Schools each month. GSPDA remains very busy during the summer months having played at the Ibrox Fun Run, the Govan Fair, the Govan Gaelic Choir Recital Evening, the Scottish Kilt Walk, the Elder Park Fun Day and for the second year, competing in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow. The new 2017/2018 academic year started last week and the Tutors are excited about a number of new recruits who have signed up from the schools to receive tuition.

We try to keep our “followers” up to date with developments and progress at GSPDA by updating the news items on the website https://gspda.co/govan-schools-pipes-and-drums-association/news/ so do hope you will be able to keep in touch with GSPDA through this medium.

Again, I would like to record a huge thank you to you for this second and very significant donation. If you have no objection I will update the GSPDA website with The Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust as a supporter.

Since receiving of our award in April 2017 we were able to cover a large amount of tuition during 2017, chiefly for our drummers.  Through this, we were able to compete in a number of minor competitions and in the four mainland “Majors”, qualifying for the Grade 4B final in two of them.

There is no doubt that the Trust’s generous award helped greatly in our continuing development.  We now have a stable band of over twenty players, and would anticipate further progress in the coming season.

This is just a quick line from the Skye Youth Pipe Band to update you following the grant support from the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust earlier this year. We used the grant to buy drum tutor books (The Drummers Launch Pad Study Unit 1) from Elixir for our 21 drumming pupils in February. 15 out of our 21 pupils are still going strong. 6 snare drummers have progressed enough to join the Band and have received their band uniforms. A number of pupils have also started attending our weekly Development Band practice, which feeds gradually into the youth band. The 6 top snare pupils and our 2 tenor drummers have almost completed Study Unit 1, and we will be purchasing some copies of Study Unit 2 before the end of this year. We also had some very successful “Come and Try” sessions at the beginning of this term, and we have 18 new drumming pupils signed up to start weekly lessons after the October holidays, which is very exciting. So thank you again for helping us along the way.