The genesis of the North Bay Pipes and Drums came in 1925 when the city celebrated its incorporation with an Old Home Week event – it was an auspicious occasion which required importing a pipe band from Englehart as no local option existed.
According to Liz Ashworth’s recently published book, “Not bad for a street band”: 100 Years of the North Bay Pipes and Drums, local merchant N. John McCubbin answered the call with help from other residents with Scottish roots and pipes, drums and/or military band experience. Recruiting, teaching and practicing followed in 1926 with the ‘North Bay Pipes’ (the band’s first name) officially introduced to the community at a concert in early 1927.
In the midst of the city’s 100th anniversary, the North Bay Pipes and Drums will be hosting a free concert and will launch the new book at the North Bay Museum on Thursday, May 1, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Ashworth, a former Pipe Sergeant for the band, began research for the book in 2016 as a retirement project and interviewed nearly 100 people in preparation for its publication as a centennial celebration. The name for the book came from a quote attributed to Pipe Major Scott MacAulay, the founding director of the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada, who saw the North Bay Pipes and Drums in July 1997. It was during a rare journey beyond Northern Ontario, Ashworth writes, while the band was performing at the college in Summerside, PEI during the Celtic Festival Concert Series. MacAulay, who has since passed, was standing at the back of the theatre as they played a set and remarked: “Not bad for a street band.”
“As volunteer musicians who practice together each week and work hard to play their best, they were elated to receive such a
positive reaction from an icon of Canadian piping,” Ashworth wrote.
The band started with three pipers and three drummers and was independent of any organization in North Bay. An article in the North Bay Nugget published Feb. 25, 1927
listed the directors and noted donations were being accepted for uniforms and instruments “and it is expected that by May North Bay will be able to boast of a properly equipped Highland band, which will add to the musical programs on public occasions.”
Cover: Our Spring 2025 cover photo of Piper Jack Buchanan and Drum Sergeant Stew Scott was taken in the early 1950s and comes courtesy of E. Scott, one of dozens illustrating the newly published book by Liz Ashworth, ‘Not bad for a street band’: 100 years of the North Bay Pipes and Drums.
Since then, members have provided formal and informal entertainment, including solo piping at hundreds of local weddings, funerals, graduations and parties. In 1990, the band went to the Netherlands for the 45th anniversary of Second World War ‘Liberation’ festivities and then returned for the 50th in 1995.
Pipe Corporal Bob Cathers said that his most poignant memory was at the Apeldoorn parade: “The crowds were impressive…There must have been thousands of them…an elderly woman tapped me on the elbow a couple of times to get my attention. She smiled even though there were tears rolling down her cheeks. She said, ‘Your people made
us free.’ Her words just about made me weep. It was an honour to represent the Canadian soldiers who liberated the Netherlands,” Cathers said during an interview in 2018.
There were an estimated 350,000 people lining the Apeldoorn route in 1995, Piper John Murray told The Nugget after returning from the 50th anniversary. “It took us three hours to go three kilometres … The crowd was just adoring. As we went past, [spectators] were putting flowers in the drones of our bagpipes.’”
Band members stepped forward to be a big part of the city’s positive vibrations during COVID with neighbourhood concerts put on by the Pipe Band Trio. Lisa Hurtubise, former piper and band manager, explains how a simple gesture of community support for essential workers grew into a much appreciated force in 2020.
RCL Br. 23 Ceremonial Trio 1976
“I began playing on my street last week at 7:30 pm to join in with the community clanging their pots and pans in support of the wonderful [essential] workers,” she wrote on social media at the time, with piper Rob Sanders doing the same. “We both ended up posting videos of our playing on the ‘North Bay Neighbourhood Cheer’ page on Facebook. It got tons of attention and the videos got tons of ‘shares’. We decided to join forces,” she said, adding that Drum Sergeant George Winters, side drummer, decided to join in as well.
“We ended up getting numerous requests to play on [area] streets…Yesterday, we went to Water’s Edge Nursing home on Lakeshore to play outside for the nurses and residents…Shannon, Rob’s wife, compiled all the streets in a list and starting this week, we’re going to sort it out and play in all the different neighbourhoods in North Bay. We have had over 130 requests!!…We are loving the joy that we’re bringing to people. This afternoon, we are going to drive out to Mattawa to play for the nursing home there,” she stated, adding it was within pandemic rules as long as they remained outside and six feet apart.
Former Pipe Sergeant George Elliott recently shared a story for the book about ‘musicianship’ among band members and how it makes an impact on their lives. His example centres on Piper Fred Watt, who Elliott described in an interview last year as the “thermometer of the band. If things were going well, he was calm, pleasant, and jovial. If the band performance quality waned and diminished, Fred got cranky.”
North Bay Pipes and Drums Postcard 1994 Lake Nipissing
“You knew when a practice session had gone poorly as Fred would simply walk away, pack up his pipe case and leave, only to return the next week full of smiles to try it again,” Elliott said. “One practice, I was beside Fred and I was really struggling with a particular tune. He endured my miserable playing the first time the band went through the tune. The second time through, his tolerance weakened and he passed me looks of disdain as I fuddled along with mistake after mistake. The third time was too much for Fred. Halfway through the tune, he simply marched to the other side of the band to play beside someone else. At the end of the tune, I looked to Fred and said, ‘That bad, eh?’. He only replied, ‘Yup’, to the amusement of the band.
“Later that evening, he took me aside and showed me the error of my ways and how to get past the technical problem I was having with the music…Fred’s willingness to help exemplified the band’s support for others.”
After their Legion commitments are complete on Remembrance Day, band pipers play at the graves of family, Legionnaires, and former band members. At each grave, the honouree is commemorated with a tune, a recitation of the Act of Remembrance, a poppy placed on his or her grave, and shots of whisky poured onto the grave and into the
pipers.
Former Pipe Major Bob Jolley explained in a 2018 interview how the tradition started with Legionnaires Sam McGhee and Joe Bonenfant in 1985. “That was the year that Jock Mackin from the Branch passed away. Jock was a Scot who loved the band…Sam, Joe, Ken Chamberlain, Rick Chamberlain, and Gord Bury were going out to [Jock’s] grave and asked that I join in as a piper. I continued to join the Legionnaires for the annual gig. Eventually [Pipe Major Bill Boutilier] joined in…and we took over coordinating the event as the Legionnaires slowly passed away.”
North Bay Pipes and Drums Band at Aubrey Cosens VC bridge 1986
Of the 28-plus bands, choirs, and orchestras that entertained the citizens of North Bay in the 1920s, the North Bay Pipes and Drums is the only one still in existence. Its membership has been as large as 31 and as small as six; women were first included in its ranks in 1992. Ashworth said the band has been “integral not only to its membership but also to the city it represents. It is hoped, by learning about the band’s history, the North Bay community, and beyond, will appreciate the dedication and service its members provide.”
Anyone interested in joining the band, and/or learning to play bagpipes and/or drums, is welcome to contact Pipe Major Bill Boutilier by email at nbpipesanddrums@gmail.
com , through the website at www.nbpipesanddrums.ca, and/or the North Bay Pipes and Drums Facebook page. If you would like to order a copy of “Not bad for a street
band”: 100 Years of the North Bay Pipes and Drums, please go to www.blurb.ca/b/12314500-not-bad-for-a-street-band-100-years-of-the-north. Cost is $50 and all proceeds go to the band.
Elizabeth Ashworth has loved pipe bands since she was eight years old. She learned to play bagpipes with the Uxbridge Legion Pipes and Drums and her passion for pipe
bands, graduate studies, and 26 years as a member of the North Bay Pipes and Drums led her to research and write the history of that band for its 100th anniversary. She now
lives on Vancouver Island where she plays solo performances for her local Legion and is a piper with the RCMP “E” Division Pipes, Drums, and Dancers.
Writer, photographer and proud father. My mom's family is from the Soo with its Algoma Highlands, dad hailed from Cobden in the Ottawa Valley and I spent my teen years in Capreol. Summers were at the beach on the Vermillion River and winters at 'The Rink.' Born in East York but Toronto never was my thing. Ever since a kid looking out the window on long trips, I imagined living on the highway in a little house with a big yard and trees growing all around me.
