June 2009. The Brandon Armouries. 26th Field Regiment Pipes and Drums 50th Anniversary. As a past member in the 1960-70 era, I was on hand to enjoy the celebration. Brent Chamberlain, the band’s Drum Major, invited me to pick up some sticks an join the practice.
“Who, me? Brent, I haven’t played a stroke for over 35 years!”
“Never mind! You are in the band and you’ll be in the parade tomorrow. So get up there!”
So I joined the circle, I counted out a few measures hoping not to embarrass myself – and played! I was amazed!
Flashback to the early 1950s and the hours we lads sat crossways on the school benches in the Flin Flon Main School music room. Mr. Tommy Leonard, lead drummer, HBM&S Pipe Band, with determined grace and patience, would lead us through the fundamentals of highland drumming.
Left hand, right hand tap. Over and over. Use your wrists not your arm. Then two left and two right taps. Over and over. Now bounce the left and right stick for two beats – the famous dadda-momma beats. Over and over. Like youthful battery bunnies. Kelly Mann, Earl Einarson, Danny Hudon and myself were just a few of the many who learned the art.
Then, after many weeks of “bench work” we went to the Jubilee Hall, where Mr. Leonard demonstrated the many facets of caring for a snare drum. He then returned the drum to the cupboard stating, “You lads not ready for a real drum yet.” Drummer bummer!
The HBM&S Pipe Band was created in the early ’40s under orders of then Company President R.H. Channing. Like many Flin Flon community facilities and services, the band was yet another “bonus” offered by the Company.
But where to find pipers and drummers? Well, there were lots of men looking for work – and if you could play the pipes or drums you were on your way.
Tommy Leonard’s daughter Ellen (McFarlane) relates the story of when the family arrived in Flin Flon from Scotland in 1948. Her dad applied for work at the Company and the employment officer asked if he played drums. Yes. Would he be interested in taking on the responsibilities as lead drummer? Yes. Would he be interested in instructing? Yes. He was hired. Zinc plant.
Jim Fell is well known for his many years of piping in and around Flin Flon and tells of his experience in getting a job at the Company. Jim was living in Melfort, Saskatchewan in 1954.
Word was that a sure ticket to a job in Flin Flon was the ability to play the bagpipes. He applied and was hired. Underground.
Jim relates how the band was, from its beginning, “an impressive presence” at special events and celebrations in and around Flin Flon. As were the times, it was menonly with pipers and drummers for the most part HBM&S employees and high school students. Several were Company Guards, including long-serving Chief Guard and Pipe Major Frank Stewart.
I recall with pleasure our regular Monday night practice parades at the Jubilee Hall (with a real drum!). Merv McKinnon, Len Osmond, Bob Bryson, Ed Hurta, John Powell, Kelly Mann, Jock Pottinger, Wayne Hoffman and Jim Fell are some names that come to mind.
If there was a major event, the band was there –including the annual Trout Festival, the July 1 Phantom Lake performances and the piping in of the ‘beauty queens’. The annual CNR Churchill Excursion trainload of tourists would be trundled out to Beaver Lake for lunch and be entertained by the band.
In addition to parades, Flin Flon solo pipers piped in hundreds of head table guests for St. Andrew’s Day, Robbie Burns Day, Hogmanay, weddings and conferences plus playing for cadet inspection parades and Remembrance Day. As with many things, time and change took its toll and the band was “disbanded” in 1967. Subsequently, the Royal Canadian Legion formed a pipe band that performed from 1969 to 1979.
Historical note: I believe it was the Pipe Band that “swung the deal” circa 1957 when the band was invited to play in the shambles of the incomplete new community hall. HBM&S President and Mrs. C.V. Whitney were in town and it was following the parade in the dust of the auditorium that Whitney donated $500,000 to its completion. Three cheers for the Pipes and Drums!
Update: May 2016. Saskatchewan Highland Games, Regina. Perfor-mance stage MC. I had a drum and a pair of sticks. I played a few beats just for fun. Flams and paradiddles too. Wow! I still have it. The beat goes on. Thank you, Tommy Leonard.
