Drumscore Veterans Drums & Pipes musters for a one-time appearance at 2025 WPBC

In 2008, the Grade 1 Spirit of Scotland gathered a group of available all-star pipers and drummers to compete only once at the World Championships. They qualified for the final and finished eleventh overall.

In 2025, a group of UK military veterans and active members will get together to do much the same thing to create the Drumscore Veterans Drums & Pipes (yes, “drums” first), a band led by Pipe-Major Norman Gillies and Lead-Drummer Andrew Laird, that they estimate will compete in Grade 3A or 3B at this year’s World’s.

Gillies currently serves in the 4 SCOTS, and Laird is a sergeant in the 71 Engineer Regiment. Both are accomplished players. Gillies is a highly successful solo piper and the son of the late Alasdair Gillies, one of the greatest pipers in history, who, coincidentally, was a Spirit of Scotland member.

“Our mission is to provide a band where we speak the same language and experiences.” – Drumscore Veterans Drums & Pipes L-D Andrew Laird

The band has 21 members on the roster so far, a Medley and MSR in place, tunes and scores being polished, and weekend practices beginning in late June.

“The first aspect was to create a band which viewers and listeners could attend the World Championships and compete,” Laird said. “This is a dedicated band for players who are ex-forces, civilians and adult cadets.”

He acknowledged that many other competing bands have military veterans in the ranks, citing the Grade 1 Police Scotland Fife as a prime example and bands with Royal British Legion sponsorships and support. Laird said that the Drumscore Veterans will not have more than 25% of members without a military background.

“Our mission is to provide a band where we speak the same language and experiences and can focus on the one major competition in the circuit,” Laird continued. “Every year, these veterans will attend the World’s . . . but cannot commit to a band. We have made the practices as easy for the members by distributing the music and holding pipe band concentrations at key weekends leading to the contest.”

The new band is already registered with the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, and its roster members are being recorded now.

The band already has the support of the Army School of Piping & Highland Drumming, which is providing practice space and drums, McCallum Bagpipes has kitted the group out with chanters, and the veterans’ charity Who Dares Cares is funding reeds.

Laird didn’t provide many more details, but was excited about the new medley, which he described as “a fantastic mix with a surprising use of a specific tune.”

The band takes its name from Laird’s “Drumscore” podcast. He hopes other veterans and supporters who could assist with the logistics and demands of a modern pipe band will consider it a viable option.

With those demands becoming increasingly heavy on pipers and drummers, one-time assemblages of players for a single competition could become more prevalent.

It remains to be seen whether the Drumscore Veterans will regroup in 2033, as Spirit of Scotland did in 2016, eight years after its 2008 debut.

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