I started playing pipes at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1973. As a new high schooler, we were initially taught during school breaks by senior boys. I started out as a drumming pupil (Sticks were cheaper and it seemed more cool!) but soon realized the piping students were getting a much better deal so swapped my sticks for a chanter. I was on the chanter for 13 months or so. In November of 1974, I did my first parade for Armistice Day.
Within a year, due to seniors leaving as well as more advanced pupils deciding to quit, I found myself as Pipe Major, 15 years old and not quite sure how things were going to be. Luckily, we were appointed a new tutor, Staff Sergeant Chris Mulinder of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment. Apart from being a very accomplished player, Chris also started South Africa’s first bagpipe school, The Pipers Training Centre. We school boys were very fortunate to benefit from excellent teaching methods as well as an abundance of practical experience in both the school and military bands. During my senior (matric) year, at school, I was doing chanter every second break, school band practice every Monday and Wednesday evening and Saturday mornings. Added to which we had regimental practice Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings. You may wonder where I managed to fit in my academic work but I tell my daughter that this is how I managed to get “E” for excellent!
I continued playing with “The Jocks”, as they were called even after Chris took a posting as Pipe Major of the South African Irish Regiment. We, at the Transvaal Scottish, were treated with a new Pipe Major, ex Scots Guards called Arthur Gelvin. Suffice it to say, he and I had a bit of a personality clash and I ended up leaving when I was called up for my National Service in the South African Air Force. After 18 months of working as a Regimental Policeman I was accepted to flying training as a candidate officer but the veneer of being a pilot was somewhat dulled by my experiences as an RP based in Namibia and I quit during ground school and finished off my time working at SAAF HQ in Pretoria. This was a year before the ANC bomb outside the same building in Church Street killed 19 people and injured over 200.
I returned to piping in the SA Irish and started my first Piobaireachd with John Farmer. I also was fortunate to attend a week long school run by Pipe Major Angus MacDonald, Scots Guards. This was around the time that my younger brother, Mark, was killed serving in 1 Parachute Battalion in Namibia. I ended up travelling for 6 months in Europe. Mark’s death really affected me and I started looking for answers in churches. I joined St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Orchards and got involved in their Youth Group programme run by Richard Girdwood and even did a year full time mission work with the diocesan group, ADAM (Art, Drama and Music) and travelled around SA promotin liturgical dance, plays and music. I then returned to banking but left the bank to become a scuba diving instructor. During the next few years my piping took a back seat and I started doing more songwriting and singing.
After the 1994 elections had passed and I was still feeling like I did not belong, I packed my pipes and a backpack, sold up all I had and travelled to the UK hoping to make a name for myself on the folk music scene. While playing for The City of Newcastle Pipe Band, I met my wife, Michèle who was the a junior manager with P&G. Since then we have never spent longer than 6 years in one place with 2 years in Co. Tipperary, Ireland where we played with Lord Edwards Own Narraghmore, 1999 World Champions in Grade 3B. Then 2 years in Bangkok, Thailand where I was piper for the St. Andrews Society. Back to the UK for 6 months, 2 years in Geneva, Switzerland, 4 years UK, 2 years Cincinnati, 6 years Geneva. In 2015, we moved back to Cincinnati, Ohio.
