HHPB

 HAWERA HIGHLAND PIPE BAND

The Band is the official band of the MacLachlan Society of New Zealand and the striking dark red pattern of the MacLachlan Tartan is worn with pride.  The first full uniform parade for the band in this tartan, was held in 1925 and the band has continued to give faithful service to the South Taranaki community ever since. 

The Band’s Coat of Arms Badge, is taken from the MacLachlan Clan.   The Clan is of ancient origins and Lachlan gave his name not only to the clan, but also to Lachlan Water, Lachlan Bay, the village of Strathlachlan and Castle Lachlan.  

The Band is made up from a wide range of ages’ from Learners to juniors to seniors and to Supporters.   The Band often joins forces with other Pipe Bands in Taranaki for special parades. 

 

A SPECIAL SET OF BAGPIPES

When interviewing one of our long serving pipers William (Bill) Colville to get his story of how he came to immigrate from the West Coast of Scotland to New Zealand, I uncovered an astonishing story of how our Pipe Major Robert Colville got his bagpipes. 

It starts like this; when Bill and Joan immigrated to NZ, Bill’s younger brother Hugh remained in the Colville home town of Campbeltown.  Hugh had become a piper with the local pipe band when he and fifteen of his mates arranged a pleasure cruise on a motor yacht to Northern Ireland.  They left early one Sunday morning but owing to a bad weather report, the skipper had decided to proceed to Lochranza on Arran instead.  The vessel then sailed to Rothesay on Bute and onto Tighnabruaich, with the passengers spending time in local hotels at each stop.

They eventually set off for home late Sunday evening but the boat was caught in a gale and in the early hours of Monday morning the boat floundered.  Eight people from off that boat drowned that night.  Hugh and his cousin Hamish (James) Colville survived, by lashing them-selves to the boats mast.  In the dark it must have been absolutely terrifying for them.  A group of fishermen in the Campbeltown harbour were alerted to the ongoing disaster when one of the hand-held emergency flares from the stricken yacht was seen.  They immediately put to sea and the courage and skill of those fishermen, in rescuing persons from off that stricken vessel in a full force gale is to be commended. 

Bill said that his brother did not tell him much about that terrible event, but he does know that Hugh and Hamish were the pipers that played the party into the hotels that eventful night.  All the sets of bagpipes went down with the ship, but by some miracle, the bag and one stock of Hugh’s pipes were fished up and returned to him some months later.  Hugh and Hamish with the help of the Pipe Major of the Campbeltown Pipe Band had their bagpipes replaced by the Argyll Battalion.   After the trauma of the shipwreck and loosing so many of his mates, Hugh seldom played his new set of pipes. Then during a visit back home by Bill with his family, Hugh gave that new set of pipes to Bills son young Robert, who now plays them as the Pipe Major of our band.