Stormpipes 

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Copenhagen 1982

Strathclyde Police Pipe Band
**Photo Gallery**

The birth of this world famous band goes back to 1883 when the Govan Burgh Police Pipe Band was formed by public subscription and was one of the first bands outside of the British Army. The uniform at that time was a home spun kilt in a hodden-grey pattern with a purple stripe as was the plaid and hose. This was replaced in 1913 with the now familiar Royal Stewart tartan.
In 1912 Govan Burgh was merged with it's neighbour the City of Glasgow and the band renamed The City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band.

The band won it's first World Championship in 1920 under PM William Gray and repeated this in 1930. Led by PM John Macdonald the band were also World Champions in 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, 1949 and 1951.
In 1975 boundary changes in Scotland saw the band renamed Strathclyde Police Pipe Band and encompassing members from Lanarkshire Police and Renfrew and Bute Police bands. This band under PM Ian McLellan, won the "World's" in 1976 and 1979 before their as yet unbeaten "six-in-a-row" between 1981 and 1986. This was followed by further wins in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.

During this successful period the band members, all fully operational police officers, were carrying out their duties in Glasgow City Centre and routinely dealt with all aspects of crime one would expect to find in such an area.
Theft, fraud, drugs, violence, road traffic offences, intelligence gathering, community involvement projects, lost children, tourists etc, etc, were all part of the daily workload.
As a police unit the members also became extremely efficient in dealing with VIP's, Royal visits, public processions and crowd control. A quiet "watch your fingers" was often passed between members when they found themselves in a volatile situation.
The band unit consisted of one inspector, two sergeants and twenty constables under the joint command of Divisional and Force HQ. Working a basic dayshift, the unit also maintained flexibility in working hours to accomodate policing and piping requirements.

Strathclyde Police Pipe Band continues to maintain it's high standards of excelence in both policing and piping to this day and will do so for many years to come.