Washington Pipers’ Association

Washington Scottish Pipe Band will perform at this Saturday’s Washington Pipers’ Association mini-gathering around 11:00 am, after Adult piping begins. The Washington Scottish Pipe Band is a Grade III band based in Seattle dedicated to the promotion of Scottish culture through performance and education. Washington Scottish traces their roots back to the late 19th century, making them one of the oldest pipe bands in the Pacific Northwest.

Thanks to volunteer and WPA Board Member Jonathan Farrell for inviting top Northwest pipers and drummers to adjudicate for us again this weekend. 

Judging drumming Saturday is Cameron Reid.  Cameron started drumming at age 10 with the Comox Valley Pipe Band Society. He joined the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band in 2001 and won the Juvenile World Championships in 2003. Cameron placed 3rd at the 2004 World Solo Drumming Championships in the Juvenile Class, won the grade 2 World Pipe Band Championships in 2006 with RMM, and last year won the grade 2 North American Championships in 2007 with Triumph Street Pipe Band. Dowco Triumph Street Pipe Band was promoted to Grade 1 this year and is one of the first bands in North America to secure new “band naming” sponsorship in recent years.  Since announcing the new band, they rapidly received sponsorship from three major businesses.  For more on this story, see this article on pipes|drums  from December 2007.  There are only 39 Grade 1 pipe bands in the world, and two of them are based in the Northwest.

WPA drummers benefit from detailed feedback and suggestions about their performances from many of the top drummers in the Northwest and around the world.  Thanks Cam for joining us this weekend!

Cameron is joined by band mate Alex Galloway. Alex grew up in Vancouver, BC and started piping in 1986 with instruction from Jimmy Wilson and Jack Lee. After moving up through the amateur grades with competitive success he was invited to compete at the Nicol Brown amateur invitational in Albany, New York. Alex moved into the open class in 2001 and continues to compete in the local circuit. Alex has played with the White Spot Pipe Band, Maple Ridge Legion, Robert Malcolm Memorial (gr 2) and now with Dowco Triumph Street Pipe Band. He has won both the World and North American championships in the grade 2 band level. Alex continues to teach piping and serves on the BCPA board of directors.