Tom Anderson, 1933-2026

The world of piping and pipe bands suffered a huge loss on March 18, 2026, with the passing of the well-known piper and true gentleman, Tom “Tommy” Anderson, at the age of 92.

Over his more than 70 years of competitive piping, Anderson played with, led or taught numerous bands, including Grade 1 bands Red Hackle, Renfrew, Invergordon Distillery and British Caledonian Airways from Scotland; Northern Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Donaghmore; and Canada’s Glenmor, 78th Fraser Highlanders, Peel Regional Police and Niagara Regional Police.

Tom Anderson was born in Paisley, Scotland, on November 22, 1933, and began piping at age eight. At the outset, he received quality instruction from the renowned Glasgow piper, Hector MacLean.

Even though he was exposed to piobaireachd by the great Peter MacLeod Sr., Anderson was never as attracted to it as to light music and pipe bands. The social aspect of pipe bands was a perfect fit with Anderson’s sociable nature. Solo piping, in effect, was perhaps too introspective for the extroverted Anderson, but he did win two All-Ireland Solo Piping Championships along the way.

The first band he played with, as was the case with so many male Scottish pipers, was the local 1st Paisley Boys Brigade, from 1943 to ’48. Latterly, he became pipe-major of the 12th Paisley Boys Brigade, where he got his first taste of musical leadership. He simultaneously played with the Johnstone Pipe Band, benefitting from casual instruction from the band’s tutor, the legendary Robert Reid.

In 1949, Tom Anderson joined the famous Red Hackle, then under Pipe-Major Angus MacLeod, until Anderson had to complete his required National Service duties . Always with an eye to piping, his ambition was to continue his playing with one of the army bands, but in 1955, he was posted to the Royal Artillery in England for two years, because he said, “I tried too hard to get into a Scottish Regiment.”

Coming out of the army, he rejoined Red Hackle for a year, and in 1959 left to become pipe-sergeant of Grade 1 Renfrew, with which he became pipe-major the following year. For the next six years, Renfrew vied for top prizes in Grade 1, receiving numerous seconds and thirds at the majors, and winning the Scottish Championships in 1965.

He left Renfrew in 1966 to undergo formal training for a career in industrial management. In 1967, he was a piper with the renowned Invergordon Distillery, playing with John Burgess, John MacDougall, and Alex Duthart, among others. The following year, he was appointed general manager of a company that manufactured industrial foam products and moved to Dublin.

Despite being more than 120 miles from Belfast, St. Patrick’s Donaghmore convinced Anderson to teach and lead them. Donaghmore, at its height, placed sixth in Grade 1 at the World Championships at Lanark in 1972, where, out of 18 Grade 1 bands, they finished second in piping, fourth in drumming, and last in ensemble. Anderson would bristle at the competitive travesty and chalk up the injustice to nothing more than religious bias.

By 1974, the constant travelling across the then-dangerous Ireland-Ulster border had exacted a major toll on Anderson and, even more so, his family. He left St. Patrick’s Donaghmore to accept an offer from British Caledonian Airways to become pipe-major of the Grade 1 band the company sponsored. From 1975 to ’78, Anderson flew back and forth to B-Cal practices held in a hangar at Glasgow Airport.

With B-Cal, he enjoyed the luxury of a great sponsorship, a multitude of perks, and a pipe section with premier players, such as Pipe-Major Angus MacDonald, Scots Guards.

In 1981, after visiting the Inter-Continental Championships at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Tom Anderson flew to Canada alone and found a job by looking through the Yellow Pages. He and his family settled in Barrie, Ontario, about an hour north of Toronto, and then moved to Rexdale, a north Toronto suburb.

In his first three years in Canada, he was pipe-major of Grade 2 Glenmor, taking them to Grade 1 in 1983.

From 1985 to ’89, he was a piper with the Grade 1 78th Fraser Highlanders. Sadly, he could not make the band’s annual trip to Scotland due to a family commitment, and he missed playing in the band’s historic Worlds win. Although he came close numerous times, he was never a part of a Grade 1 World Championship win.

“Tommy was one of the finest guys I’ve ever worked under. He had a really strong pipe corps the year after I came out of the army, and if [Renfrew] had kept together, it could actually have gone places, and maybe the whole history of the pipe band scene would have changed.” – Ian McLellan

He left the 78th Frasers in 1990 to work with the Peel Regional Police Pipe Band, taking them from Grade 3 to Grade 1, when the band merged with the Grade 1 Toronto & District Caledonian in 1993 with Reid Maxwell as leading-drummer.

Known as a strict taskmaster to his players, Anderson was always willing to spend time with and nurture his players, both pipers and drummers, and made it a point to compete with all his available players, considering his fellow bandsmen family.

He was sought after as a respected, honest and fair adjudicator of both solo piping and pipe bands. Ill health forced his retirement from piping in 2010.

As pipe-major of St. Patrick’s Donaghmore, he brought the band from Grade 3 to the top of Grade 1, and he would make the train trip from Dublin to practices in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, several times a week.

Though he wrote very few tunes, he is credited with composing the now-classic banger of a hornpipe, “The Train Journey,” which he said he wrote during one of those trips, inspired by the syncopated rhythm of the wheels across the tracks.

Tom Anderson was predeceased by his wife, Florence, whom he married in 1955. He leaves five children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to whom we pay our condolences.

The funeral will be held on Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 1 pm at Pleasantview Funeral Home, 2000 Merrittville Highway, Thorold, Ontario. Inurnment will take place following the service at Pleasantview Memorial Gardens, with a celebration of life from 2-4 pm at the funeral home.

Our thanks to Bill Prohn for sending us important information about his longtime friend and fellow piper, Tommy Anderson.