History
After going through two pipe majors and a break during World War II, the band's performance was helped significantly by receiving sponsorship from the workers of the Dundonald Colliery. Each miner deducted a penny a week from his pay to help increase the band's funds. With this support, the band won the Juvenile Championship at Cowal in 1952.
The band continued to achieve success, winning the Grade III World Championships in 1953 and the Grade II World Championships in 1958. This, however, was to be their peak performance for two decades. In 1965 the Dundonald Colliery closed and both the band and the village lost their primary means of support. Fortunately, the blow was slightly off set when the Frances Colliery in Dysart adopted the band.
In 1966 Robert Shepherd was appointed Pipe Major and a year later the band began to train young players, marking the start of the "Youth Policy". This idea was very successful, and the organization fielded a Juvenile band which won the British Championships in 1969. One year later, the main band was upgraded to Grade II in 1970 and finally Grade I in 1973. They continued their success after this until 1983, when Bob Shepherd stepped down, becoming World Champions twice, Cowal Champions four times, British Champions three times, Scottish Champions seven times and European Champions twice.
A concert held in Ballymena 1983 and later reproduced by Temple Records on 1994 remains a ground breaking Pipe Band recording mixing traditional styles with modern ones, influencing many modern top pipe band recordings since, such as the legendary 78th Fraser Highlanders Live In Ireland concert recording.
After 1983, the Grade I band was able to keep from being downgraded, but won few events. Their Juvenile wing, however, continued to win major competitions. The Grade I band qualified for the finals of the World Championships for the first time since qualifying was introduced in 2000, and again in 2006.
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