Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band

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ISMPB at Glasgow Highland Games 2010

The Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band (ISMPB), is a bagpipe and drum band based in Birmingham. The band was established in October 2008 from the membership of the Heritage Pipes & Drums and was named to honor Alabama's first bagpipe instructor and pipe band leader, Ian Sturrock, who founded the group's predecessor, the Ben Dearg Pipe Band, in the 1960s.

The Ben Dearg Pipe Band was later reorganized under the name Heritage Pipes & Drums in affiliation with the Heritage Academy, an educational institution under the Reformed Heritage Presbyterian Church (now Trinity Presbyterian Church). Leadership of the band soon passed to Ian's student Charles Smith who led the band through Ian's death in 1995.

The Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band is sponsored by Guinness, the Saint Andrews Society of the Middle South and the Caledonian Society of Alabama. The membership includes musicians from throughout Alabama as well as Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. In 2001, Ryan Morrison, a third-generation student of Sturrock's, assumed leadership of the band. In 2008, the band was again reorganized under a new charter and with its present name.

ISMPB performs in and around Birmingham with traditional Irish pub band Jasper Coal and at various seasonal events for their sponsors. The band also leads the annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade along with the parade's primary sponsor the Birmingham Irish Cultural Society. Since 2013 the band has been complemented by the Flam Fatales all-female drum corps.

Competition

ISMPB is a member in good standing of the Eastern United State Pipe Band Association since 2010. In May that same year, ISMPB participated in sanctioned Grade 5 pipe band competition at the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games in Gatlinburg, TN. At their debut contest, they took 1st place out of three bands and received marks for playing above grade level.

In June 2010, the band traveled to Lucas, KY for the Glasgow Highland Games for sanctioned Grade 5 pipe band competition and placed 1st out of four bands.

In October 2010, ISMPB attended the Stone Mountain Highland Games in Stone Mountain, GA, one of the largest events in the southern United States. They took 2nd place out of twelve other bands in sanctioned Grade 5 pipe band competition.

As of December 7th, 2010, the band has been upgraded to Grade 4 for the 2011 contest season.

References

  • Cromwell, Sydney (September 2017) "The Pipes of Southside". Iron City Ink

External links