PoCo piper takes in Worlds
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When the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band won its first world championship in Glasgow in 1995, Port Coquitlam retiree Bill Dow was in the crowd, drinking in the victory cheers and shouting his own to support “the home team.”
Dow, a piper for more than 50 years, has since journeyed to Scotland to watch the ‘worlds’ seven times. He’ll be among the 40,000-plus spectators when a record 239 bands compete on Glasgow Green on Aug. 14.
“I’ve only seen them win that once – I always seem to just miss them,” says Dow of SFU’s five other championship wins. The band has a two-year winning streak and Dow hopes to see them add a third straight victory.
“I like their chances,” he approves in a thick, Scottish brogue. “As the world’s best band, they’ve set the standard and everybody else has to come up to that level. They’ve got a damn good chance.
“There are some marvelous bands, but the SFU players are in the driver’s seat. They’ll be pushed and it’ll be a little tough because of it, but I think they can do it.”
Dow, 75, worked as a herdsman at the former Colony Farm in Port Coquitlam and has followed the SFU band under the direction of the Lee brothers, Jack and Terry, for nearly three decades.
“I knew them way back when they played for the Abbotsford pipe band,” says Dow, the long-serving pipe major of the Mission City Pipe Band. “They were just kids.”
Dow played earlier with the Burnaby Legion Band and watched as the Lees’ reputation grew with repeated wins. “Right from the start, you knew they had something special. When they came on the scene, they changed the whole concept of pipe bands for a lot of bands.
“The SFU band showed everyone ‘this is how it should be done.’ They weren’t vocal about it – they just did it.
“They’ve got a huge passion for the music, and they seem to be able to transfer it to the other players. It’s really quite unique.”
Dow, who times his visits to family in Scotland around the worlds, plans to get an early start at Glasgow Green, a huge, lush open field in the heart of the city.
“I like to follow them through the process. As a piper, it’s marvelous to watch Terry and Jack and the others setting up. They do it in such a businesslike and friendly manner, bringing the sound up to just the right spot.
“They handle the task superbly,” Dow adds. “Often they’re in the cold, pouring rain and yet they keep it all professional. They are strong leaders, and gentlemen supreme.”
Dow says the day’s shining moment is when the more than 200 bands are lined up and the victorious world champions ‘play off’ the field. “It just turns everybody on,” says Dow. ”You want to scream and shout, everyone picks it up. They cheer for the winner, regardless of who it is.
“Of course the Scots are always a little disappointed if they don’t win,” he adds. “But regardless of the outcome, the crowds always give SFU a tremendous cheer.”