Clan Sutherland Disbands

Fresh on the heels of the dissolving of the Abbotsford Police Pipe Band and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department Pipe Band, England’s Clan Sutherland Pipe Band has also packed it in.

For much of the 1990s, Clan Sutherland has been a contender for the Grade 2 title at the World Pipe Band Championships, and even attained the RSPBA’s Grade 2 “Champions of Champions” title in
1995. The band won many of the major championships in Grade 2.

After a sub-par 1999 season, the band tried to resurrect their previous glory with a new Pipe Major and Leading Drummer. Ex-Pipe Major, Tony Sloane, moved to become Pipe major of the Grade 1 Royal Ulster Constabulary Pipe Band of Northern Ireland, and a number of pipers went with him.

Clan Sutherland officially dissolved this week, with members being split between the RUC and the Grade 2 Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary Pipe Band, which is earmarked by many to be a force in Grade 2 in the 2000 season.

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