The gig for which they are famous, Te Kūiti and Districts Pipe Band in their Muster kit, gumboots and sporrans tied on with twine.
The official pipe band for the Great New Zealand Muster – and the most photographed pipe band in gumboots in the world, is celebrating 75 years of piping and drumming around the King Country. Te Kūiti and Districts Pipe Band is the offshoot of former pipe bands in Piopio and Ōtorohanga. It had a strong membership until 1989 when it went into recess for nine years and was revived by current drum major Jim O’Halloran and Ōtorohanga piper Lloyd Fitzgerald as tutor. Jim is the son of the founding drum major John O’Halloran. There’s a tide in the life of pipe bands, particularly a rural band with larger centres nearby, said the band’s current pipe major Don McColl. He’s seen about three rotations as the band’s four core musicians; Keith Buswell, Bob Dawson, Andrea Price and himself, helped train up and coming young pipers and drummers who were lured away, to play for larger more competitive bands. He understands the attraction of playing in a more musically demanding space, being a member of a Rotorua band himself. But he wants it made clear that for the parades that count for the TK&D pipe band, the musicians are able return to their home band. “We don’t mind them playing for bigger bands, that’s the way the world works, but for Anzac/ Christmas, we expect to see them play for local bands,” he said. “Most get it, but others have to be told.” The tide worked the other way for the band about 2010 after a Hamilton band dissolved and T&D pipe band received a number of new pipers and drummers. The boosted numbers encouraged the band to compete, and the band competed at its first national contest in Masterton in 2010 in Grade 4. They won the Grade 4a National Contest in Timaru in 2013 with 19 pipers and 10 drummers and last competed at Grade 3 in 2015.
