On 9/12/2015 2:15 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 12 Sep 2015 09:01:32 -0700 (PDT), True North
wrote:

A Halifax Bagpiper has won the Silver Star award in Scotland as the best bagpiper in the world. Only the 2nd time someone outside Scotland has won it.
Talk about a good news story!

===

Chuck Gould, a well known writer and sometime publisher in the Pacific
North West, is also a bagpiper. Chuck used to post here frequently in
the past and was always a welcome voice of reason amidst the usual cat
fights.


I think the tradition and history of bagpipes and fire departments is
pretty cool. Scotland is usually considered to where bagpipes
originated but actually they were more generally Celtic and the Irish
also has a long history of bagpiping as well.

In the early days in the northeast (1800's) and especially in Boston and
New York ... Irish immigrants weren't particularly welcome. The only
jobs they could find were the "dirty" and "dangerous" ones .. namely
fire fighters and police. The tradition of playing bagpipes at a
funeral was a tradition in Ireland and the Irish immigrants continued
the tradition when they came to the USA.

We have a fire station just down the street from our house. When a
firefighter dies (and maybe a policeman) we often see a lone person
walking outside the station in full Irish garb, (including a kilt)
playing the bagpipes in the deceased's honor.