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Trentham Annual Camp - 1935
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History - WSPD 1932-1945
The City of Wellington’s Own had long had a military band in its various
incarnations, but by 1932 the band was defunct. In this year the Pipes & Drums was
formed, although not early enough in the year to take part in the Guard of |
| Honour provided by the Regiment at the dedication of the
National War Memorial Carillon in Buckle Street. In
its first years the Pipes & Drums was composed primarily of ex-Imperial soldiers.
"One... recruit to the ‘Haggis Bashers’ was a braw wee laddie who returned
to the fold wearing medal ribbons for Indian General Service, 1896, the Boer War and the
1914-1918 War" (Official History of the Wellington Regiment). The first Pipe Major
was George A MacLennan who had served in the British Army during the Great War and brought
his family to NZ in 1920. |
| By 1933 the Regimental Band had re-emerged, no doubt
leading to much friendly rivalry. The new Regimental Band was in fact the Band of the
Royal Navy Volunteer Reserves "transplanted" into the Regiment when its navy
engagement ended. Andy Hobson, an ex-imperial man (Scots Guards), became the Drum-Major
for both bands. He was "a Scot through and through, who made no mistake in his
preference for the type of music he preferred" (Official History). The Regimental
Band of the 1st Battalion still exists today as the Band of the 7th
Battalion RNZIR, although they now have their own Drum Major... |
| Initially the Pipes & Drums had no proper
uniform - its members wore whatever kilts they could obtain. This did not prevent them
from entering into Regimental life with gusto. The annual camp was held at Waipukurau for
the first time in 1933, and the Pipes & Drums and Regimental Band gave several
concerts for the locals in consideration of their hospitality. |
The Regimental Bands leading the Battalion away from the
Railway Station, Waipukurau Annual Camp, 1930s.
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The Pipes & Drums at a display in the 1930s
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From this time on the Pipes & Drums played
a central part in the life of the Battalion with parades and regimental balls, and it
participated in all major events in the Battalion’s history, while making an
important contribution to the civic life of Wellington. |
| The visit to New Zealand by HRH The Duke of
Gloucester in 1934 provided the catalyst for the Pipes & Drums to equip itself with
proper kit, apparently resorting to "devious" means to achieve this end (in a
pipe band? Surely not!). The Pipers got kilts and the Drummers trews. W McCluggage,
a bandsman, remembered that "[t]he Pipes and Drums got the kilt and trews of the
Hunting Stewart. |
Annual Camp at Waipukurau
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| The trews were tailor made to fit very tightly by a
‘civvy’ tailor who was an ex-Imperial Army tailor, and he came into camp with us
and was made an honorary Sergeant. I recall he must have done a lot of close sewing in his
time because he wore glasses that looked like the bottoms of milk bottles" (Official
History). It later transpired that there had been a mix up with the sett of the tartan
however. It had been woven in Christchurch, and by accident one stripe had been left out.
When the powers that be found out, the Pipe Major and Drum Major had to do some very fast
talking! |
| The Wellington Regiment was chosen to provide a guard of
honour for the Duke which he duly inspected in front of the Town Hall at the bottom of
Cuba Street (where the Michael Fowler Center now is). The drummers in the background of
the picture can be seen wearing their trews and the piper in the center foreground is
perhaps the "braw wee laddie" referred to above. The Duke of Gloucester brought with him the Band of the Grenadier Guards which
drew huge crowds when it paraded down Wellington's "Golden Mile" (Lambton Quay
and Willis St) with the Band of the Wellington Regiment. Andy Hobson had the honour of
leading both bands on this parade, and was mistaken by many spectators for the Drum Major
of the Grenadier Guards itself. |
The dedication of the Cenotaph in Wellington, 1930s
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The first ceremonial beating of the retreat
was held at the Cenotaph on Anzac Day 1935. The Pipes & Drums and Regimental Band were
drawn up in front of the Cenotaph on Lambton Quay. After the buglers sounded the retreat
the Pipes & Drums marched up the Quay past the Cenotaph and then counter marched back
to the Cenotaph forming a circle in front of it. |
The process
was then reversed, bringing them back to their original position. The Regimental Band then
performed the same manoeuvre before the Pipes & Drums led the Battalion back to the
barracks. The Pipes & Drums played in the retreat ceremony every subsequent Anzac Day
until the early 1970s when the ceremony was discontinued. However WSPD maintain the
tradition in the dawn services where the band plays retreat marches to lead the veterans
from the dawn service, with the Regimental Band of the 7th Battalion RNZIR
following.
Opening the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition 1940
Other
significant events for the Pipes & Drums during this period were the parade on the
occasion of the Regiment being given the Freedom of the City, and the Pipes & Drums
leading the Guard of Honour to the opening of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition in
Wellington in 1940. The Pipes & Drums had a strength of 18 on this day and also
performed a retreat and played a medley of Scottish airs. |
| With the beginning of the Second World War
many members of the Battalion, including some pipers, enlisted in the Second New Zealand
Expeditionary Force for overseas service. Wellington Companies were formed in the 19th,
22nd, and 25th Battalions of the 2NZEF. |
Farewelling the 3rd Echelon
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So many 1st Battalion members had enlisted for overseas
service in these Companies that by the end of the War the Pipes & Drums, Regimental
Band, and HQ Support were about all that was left of the Battalion in Wellington!
For the first years of the War Regimental life continued as normal.
In 1939 the annual camp had been held in a new training ground in the middle of nowhere -
Waiouru, an inhospitable "desert" in the Central Plateau of the North Island
which was later to become the headquarters of the New Zealand Army. The annual camps were
"dry", but this did not stifle the ingenuity of one Piper according to Piper C J
Watkins.
"The Pipes & Drums did the whole camp [in 1940]. It rained
a fair amount of the time. I recall that we were all in Bell tents and the only permanent
buildings were two drying huts, we sure made use of them... One of the Pipers, J Carson,
who had been known to have a 'wee dram or two', knew a driver on the Wellington to
Auckland Express train and he had arranged for this person to bring up a bottle of the
best Scotch the night he was due to pass through Waiouru. Sneaking out of the lines he
duly received the bottled nectar... after walking about a mile to the station. On the way
back he had to cross a stream. He misjudged his distance and fell right into the middle of
the icy water. It took nearly the whole bottle, poured down his throat by his laughing
tent mates before we could thaw him out" (Official History). |
| During the War the Regimental bands had their
work cut out for them with many fundraising parades and other duties, and some members of
the Pipes & Drums trained as stretcher bearers. The Regiment itself was mobilised for
an extended training camp in Wanganui. Pipers were assigned to companies for marching them
to Mess, and both the regimental bands played a large part in camp life - although not to
the liking of all Wanganui residents(!). The Pipes & Drums |
Piping in NZ's War-time Prime Minister, Peter Fraser
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| participated in victory parades at the conclusion of the
War, and was on the wharf to welcome home the Maori Battalion. |
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