> Backyard pipers prepare to compete

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Contacts:

• Jack Lee, 604.574.3299
• Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 604.291.3210

They have won world championships and international acclaim. So where do members of the SFU Pipe Band polish up for the next big contest?

Try Jack Lee’s backyard. The band’s pipe sergeant hosts a week of practices (July 23-26) in his idyllic Surrey backyard field, in preparation of the world championships in Glasgow, Scotland on August 11.

Here, at the end of a country road, pipers congregate under willows while drummers circle further afield. It is an annual ritual that Lee believes adds a relaxed tone to their persistent pursuit of perfection.

The elite Grade 1 band is looking for a comeback after claiming second spot (behind North Ireland’s Field Marshal Montgomery) in 2006.

This year, the band’s juvenile members, who attend the competition every two years, are slated to compete – and hope to bring home their fifth championship trophy (as they did in 2005, when the band included seven Lee relatives, including sons Andrew, Colin and John). They will practice in Lee’s yard in the afternoons.

Senior members will gather in the shade of early evening. They include four members from Scotland and a trio from Northern Ireland who make the trek to Canada annually, just to play with the band.

With so many good bands in Scotland, one might ask, why? “Because,” replies Lee, “they believe it is the best band in the world to play in.”