Hesitantly, Brian arrived at his friend’s flat to hear his thoughts, and he left the building as the man in charge, not ever imaging the success that was to come for the newly-founded New Ross and District Pipe Band.
Since its establishment in 1974, the band has striven to achieve the highest musical standards and it has always been a teaching band, having many pipers and drummers come through its ranks over the years.
The New Ross Pipe Band places a great emphasis on teaching young people in the traditional arts of piping and drumming and several of its members also play other instruments such as banjo, guitar, keyboard, flute and bodhran.
The ethos of teaching and nurturing talent is of most definitely no strange course of action to Brian, who has worked tirelessly throughout the years to educate the youth of New Ross, and having been handed a duster and chalk on his first day of teaching with a class of 46 students, managing the pipe band was second nature.
The band always likes to feature its young musicians in its concert performances and the band takes enormous pride in the attitude and performance of its young players. The band has regularly performed its 'Celtic Weave' concert in Ireland and in France where the band has been a regular visitor to the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany. The 'Celtic Weave' concert features singers, dancers, traditional musicians, keyboard and guitar, as well as full pipe band.
The New Ross Pipe Band has visited many countries including USA (Pittsburgh St. Patrick's Day Parade, Cleveland St. Patrick's Day parade; Virginia Tattoo ), Spain, Lithuania, England, Scotland , Wales, Northern Ireland, and France. They have led the St. Patrick's Day Parade in London and they have performed for Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in Rome. Over the past 12 months alone, the band has visited France on 3 occasions: The Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany, the Festival Presque’ile Breizh in Quiberon, Brittany and the Bressuire Highland Games in Nouvelle Aquitane.
Highlights of the band’s competition successes include winning the World Pipe Band Championships on two separate occasions; winning the Scottish Pipe Band Championships in Grade 3B and winning the All Ireland Pipe Band Championships in Grades 4 , Grade 3B and Grade 3A. In 2018, the band won 2nd. Prize at the World Pipe Band championships in Grade 3A.
One of Brian’s stand-out moments, of both his teaching career and his time with the New Ross Pipe Band, was in 2000. At the time, Brian had taken over as school principal, and was moving into his new office. Next of all, the phone rang.
"Hello… This is the Vatican,” an Italian voice on the phone said, “we’d like the pipe band to play for the Pope.”
Brian went into the staff room to identify the culprit behind what he thought was an imposter voice on the call… but none of the staff had any inkling of what he was on about and shortly after that, the phone call was followed up with an email confirming the details for the pipe band to in fact, play for Pope John Paul II.
And after some convincing, the band finally believed that they had been called upon to perform in the Vatican, as they too thought it was a joke on Brian’s part.
Throughout the years, Brian has made many great friends by way of competing and performing with the pipe bands. Having began his musical journey with St. Kevin’s Pipe Band in Bray, he remembers the walks, while being jeered from the overcrowded housing estate, where he lived as an 11 year old, up through Bray’s main street to the band hall.
Just a few years later, during a competition in New Ross, there was yet another amusing conversation where Brian phoned his parents from Wexford and told them how he somehow managed to miss the bus home to Wicklow. Little did they know at the time, he met his now-wife, Anne Bennett.
In recent years the band has branched out to playing with groups such as the High Kings and the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland. Over the past two years, band members have performed in over 30 concerts with the Cross Border Orchestra in Limerick, Waterford, Dublin and Belfast.
The band contributes regularly to the cultural life of New Ross and County Wexford.
Members of the band also contribute greatly to the organisation of pipe bands in Ireland as founding member of the band, Brian continues to be part of the Irish Pipe Band Association as Chairman, while piper Matt Ryan is Chairman of the South-East Branch of the Irish Pipe Band Association and overall, there is a huge sense of pride in what they have achieved over the years as they mark the 50th anniversary of the New Ross Pipe Band.