William Lyons, 1940-2026

William Lyons died following a short illness on August 28, 2026. Born on May 27, 1940, he learned to play the bagpipes as a boy with the Corbet Pipe Band, just outside Banbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland. He was taught in the post-war years in this quiet part of Ireland before enlisting in the British Army as an Infantry Soldier/Piper in the Irish Guards in 1957.

He was affectionately known as Bill, Will, or Willie by family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, depending on how you knew him.

Will went on to play with the Banbridge Pipe Band, and on army leave during the summers, guest-played with one of Ireland’s top pipe bands of the time, Dromara, under Pipe-Major Harold Hook.

His first piping instructor in the army was Pipe-Major K. G. Roe of the Scots Guards, and he always described it as almost being retaught to play again from scratch. But he became engulfed in learning to play, the very hard way, and quickly became a competent and confident piper.

During his early days in the army, he served in Aden, Yemen, and toured Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and around Europe. He also spent time teaching the 2nd Royal Australian Regiment Pipes & Drums in Darwin, Australia.

During his army service, the family lived in Scotland, England, Hong Kong and Germany. In 1969-70, Will completed his Pipe-Major’s Course (No. 25) at Edinburgh Castle, under the instruction of Captain John McLellan. He became lifelong friends with Jimmy Banks, who was on the same course and was then pipe-sergeant of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards.

Angus MacDonald was the pipe-major of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards at that time, and along with Pipe-Major Dixie Ingram, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards, the four shared a great friendship. Will learned much from them and recounted many stories of his times at the Pipe-Majors Course in Edinburgh Castle.

He became pipe-major of the 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards and remained there until his army service ended in 1977. Will was a “Piper to the Royal Household,” arranging music for high-profile state and international events.

He was a Decorated Military Pipe-Major, being awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to piping in the British Army. On returning to Northern Ireland, Will served for 17 years with the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Will and Ida (Sarah), his wife, have four children. William, Neil, Ian and Sharon. Neil and Ian both took to pipe bands and learned to play the drums and pipes. After returning to their home country, Northern Ireland, in 1977, Will accepted the pipe-major role at his local pipe band in Banbridge, where he remained for nearly 10 years. The band was a regular on the competition field and saw success in Grade 3 and Grade 4 locally and in Scotland. Will retired from piping in 1988 because of repetitive hand issues.

He was extremely proud of his family. His two sons, Neil and Ian, both saw incredible success, particularly with Field Marshal Montgomery under Richard Parkes. Both won multiple World Championships and many major championships with the band, spanning five decades. Ian and Neil both also worked and competed with the Victoria Police Pipe Band under Nat Russell during the band’s competing years, and Ian also spent nine years guesting with the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band from Toronto under Bill Livingstone. Ian remains a full-time serving member of the Victoria Police Pipe Band.

Both Ian and sister Sharon emigrated to Australia and have both lived in Melbourne for over 30 years.

In his later years, during the early 2000s, Will saw a resurgence in his local Banbridge Pipe Band, and took on the role as piping tutor, teaching many young pipers from around the district and forming one of Northern Ireland’s very few junior pipe bands in recent history. He was featured in a BBC documentary called “The Pipe Band Documentary,” which is available to view on YouTube.

Will was a staunch, upright, no-nonsense man, which worked well with teaching young players. Some of whom are playing in Grade 1 bands to this day. But he was much loved and highly respected by so many in Northern Ireland and the greater pipe band community. In his later years, he’d go to the pipe band contests and sit, on his deckchair, for most of the day, alongside the other old men of piping. He’d enjoy the craic and would give a full, educated, run-down on which bands were the winners.

But deep-down, his absolute delight would be to see the Field Marshal, with one of his boys, halting at the line. We can only imagine how that would have made him feel as a father. He was a hard man on the surface, but a big softie on the inside, and will be missed by us all.

Will Lyons’ name was very well known in the pipe band world, and he will be long remembered by many. His funeral service will be held at Ballydown Presbyterian Church in Banbridge on Tuesday, September 1, at 1 pm.

– contributed by Ian Lyons

Our thoughts are with Will Lyons’ family and many friends at this sad time.