Sophie Conlon
For a local group that can date its beginnings back to 1895, winning the 2023 City of Mount Gambier Award for Active Citizenship is a big honour.
The Blue Lake Highland Pipe Band performs at a range of different community events in Mount Gambier and across the Limestone Coast, often just for their love of music, and they have been recognised for their community input this Australia Day.
Secretary Barry Ward has been involved with the band for about 40 years, and said this was the first time they had been recognised in a formal way by the community that he could remember.
“It means we get a bit of recognition for what we’ve done over the years, and to my knowledge – I’ve been with the band since about 1980 – we’ve never really received anything in recognition for what we do for the community,” he said.
“Any recognition is nice, a lot of times the band will play and we don’t even get a round of applause or anything, but that’s the way it is sometimes.”
Mr Ward said the committee was very surprised and pleased to be recognised in the awards.
“Most times we play for our own enjoyment and if the public likes that as well then that’s a bonus,” he said.
The band performs at community events like the Christmas Parade, ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day and Mr Ward said they also performed at private functions like weddings and funerals.
“To my knowledge, I can’t remember when we’ve ever said no, we always try to give these functions some support even if it might not be the full band,” he said.
One thing Mr Ward was particularly proud of was the band’s annual tradition of performing at nursing homes every New Year’s Eve.
Another way the band supports the community is providing free lessons and instruments to people wanting to learn.
Mr Ward said there was a bond to protect the equipment, but this allowed more people to be involved with the band and explore their interests in pipe music.
“The band provides instruments, uniforms and tuition for free,” he said.
While members of the band will be at Cave Garden/ Thugi to receive the award, Mr Ward said they would also be there to perform a few Australian tunes for the crowd.
