Bucksburn and District Pipe Band are delighted to announce the appointment of Grade 1 Drummer Joe Fleming as its new Lead Drummer. Joe replaces Simon Lipp after he left the band in December 2015.

The band wishes to express its gratitude to Mike Haggart for his efforts during his short time as Stand-in Lead Drummer. Mike will continue to help and support Joe in his new role.

Joe is a talented young drummer from Lanarkshire and will this year graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BA (Hons) in Scottish Music. This will take Joe to Aberdeen where he is keen to improve the standard of drumming throughout the North East and would like to introduce pipe band drumming lessons to schools in the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire areas. This along with Joe’s success and experience in the top grade with Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia and Inveraray and District Pipe Bands will take Bucksburn’s drum corps to a new level. It has been some time since Bucksburn’s drum corps had seen success on the competition park and Joe and his energised Corp will strive to bring this back to the band again. We have a young band with very talented players who are keen to do well and Joe’s appointment will enhance this greatly.

Joe is relishing the challenge ahead and has commented “this is an exciting time for me to be taking on this new challenge at Bucksburn. There is a lot of talent within the band and I want to build on this now and well into the future. If anyone in the area would like to come along and try out for the band please get in touch”.

Anyone wishing to join the Drum corps under the leadership of Joe or the Pipe Corp please email our Band Manager at boxypb@gmail.com or Joe at JFleming@rcs.ac.uk

Thanks to all of you who came out to support us at our 2016 Burns Night Ceildh, this year held at the Transport Club, Aberdeen. Great night, plenty of normal Boxy banter, dancing and socialising with friends, old and new. Congratulations to our worthy 2015 Award winners – The Tough Family, Kim Milne and Lucy Murray.

To top it all off we managed to raise £1000 for the Ballater Flood Appeal. Well done and thank you to all.

The younger members of the band were on stage as usual with the Red Hot Chillie Pipers at their annual December Concert in Aberdeen. What an experience for them all. Here we see Aimie, Murray and Jamie showing the guys how to play the pipes properly!

2015 was a year of transition for Bucksburn and District Pipe Band. Over the last two seasons we have been delighted to see some of our younger members making the successful step up from the Novice and Juvenile Bands to the Senior Band. The average age of the G2 Band went from 35 to closer to 25! By the end of the year, these talented young musicians, when added to the well-established Band members, were beginning to show the pipe band world what was coming around the corner for 2016. The season ended with excellent placings at Cowal for both the Senior and Novice Bands. Roll on 2016!

TRULY REINVENTED. What a night, what a concert! Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band give the Aberdeen audience a taste of what they intend to bring into the 2015 competition circle. We wish they every success during 2015.

And both the Boxy Bands did themselves proud too!

On Saturday November 30th and Sunday December 1st , Bucksburn & District Pipe Band held their first weekend workshop with the aim of further developing our youth players.

Over 25 Novice juvenile members attended with several Juvenile pipers also coming along.

The NJ band worked with James Campbell and David Brown to enhance their piping and drumming skills and also concentrate on their material for the season ahead.

Neil Selbie worked with the juvenile pipers over the two days to ensure that they are in the best possible position for the season ahead.

David Patterson, Stuart Hart, Eona Will, Raymond Whyte and Gus McAskill were also on hand to assist and ensure that the members bring what they learnt at the weekend forward over the rest of the winter.

The band would like to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances Mike Haggart has stepped down as Lead Drummer of the Band. Mike committed himself to the band knowing that it was a long term position and project. However his term as lead Drummer has been cut short due to health. What Mike has achieved as LD is something to be proud of and can happily hand over a corps with a different mindset and talent. After spending the last few years with Mike the Drum corps have learned from his Grade one experiences and talent giving them the right attitude to go into greater things.

We are very pleased to say that Mike’s successor is Simon Lipp, a top Grade one Drummer and previous world champion with Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band. Simon worked with Mike for a season knowing too well what is expected of him as our new LD. Due to Mikes unforeseen illness this season Simon gladly jumped into the lead role with confidence playing at the Falite concert and at a couple of competitions. Simon has a long term goal and vision throughout the organisation that will build the drum corps back to strength in no time saying: “After spending the past 10 years with Scottish Power I’m looking forward to helping Bucksburn become a major force in pipe bands again and am definitely enjoying the 10 minute drive to band practice!”

The Band wishes Mike and his family happiness and great health for the future, you’re due it Mike!! and who knows you may even find the time to play again very soon!

Welcome to Simon as our new LD who has all the qualities as a drummer and as a person to lead, encourage and nurture any drummer, one of the best in the business in the North East.

Anyone wishing to join the Drum corps under the leadership of Simon please email or phone Gregor, Band Manager at g.mcdonald@bucksburnpipeband.com or 07920161806