The Dagenham Girl Pipers are a female

pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of Bagpipes, pipers and drummers. The term pipes and drums, used by military pipe bands is also common. The most common form of pipe band consists of a section of pipers playing the Great Highland b ...

based in

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

, Greater London. The band was founded in 1930, and toured extensively as a professional organisation before and after the Second World War, with several members performing during the war for the

Entertainments National Service Association The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...

. It is now an amateur band under the leadership of pipe major Sheila Hatcher.

History

The band was formed in 1930 by Revd Joseph Waddington Graves, the minister of Osborne Hall

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

church. He chose 12 girls from the Sunday school with an average age 11, and they had their first practice on 4 October under the direction of

Pipe Major The pipe major is the leading musician of a pipe band, whether military or civilian. Like the appointment of drum major, the position is derived from British Army traditions. During the early twentieth century, the term sergeant piper was used ...

Douglas Scott-Taylor. The girls were initially taught in secret, as Taylor thought teaching women would damage his reputation. The band's first performance was 18 months later, to an audience of journalists, who filmed the event. The band wore the

Royal Stewart tartan The Royal Stewart or Royal Stuart tartan is the best-known tartan retrospectively associated with the royal House of Stewart, and was also the personal tartan of Queen Elizabeth II. The sett was first published in 1831 in the book ''The Scottish ...

. By 1933 some of the girls had reached the

school leaving age The school leaving age is the minimum age a person is legally allowed to cease attendance at an institute of compulsory secondary education. Most countries have their school leaving age set the same as their minimum full-time employment age, thus ...

of 14 and Graves decided to make the band a professional organisation, with the girls as paid employees and himself as manager. The band was a success and by 1937 was fulfilling 400 engagements a year, sometimes with multiple bands on tour at the same time. Edith Turnbull and Peggy Iris were made pipe majors of the band. The Girl Pipers toured to pre-war Germany, and at one performance

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

was heard to remark: "I wish I had a band like that." The band was touring in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

in August 1939 when Graves became aware of the rising military tension, and the band curtailed their tour and returned to Britain, two weeks before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out. The group disbanded at the outbreak of

, but 10 girls were allowed to work full-time for the

and others worked part-time. Peggy Iris and Margaret Fraser joined a concert party entertaining troops in Africa, giving over 1000 shows in three years, and were awarded the

Africa Star The Africa Star is a military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom on 8 July 1943 for award to British and Commonwealth forces who served in North Africa between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943 during the Second World War. Three clasp ...

. After the war the band reformed as a professional organisation. David Land, who ran a theatrical agency in Dagenham, took over from Graves in 1948. The Girl Pipers became an amateur band in 1968 as it was uneconomical to continue as a professional group. The band still performs today, with around 15 active members under the leadership of Sheila Hatcher, who has been a member since 1958. Historical records of the Dagenham Girl Pipers are held by th
Barking and Dagenham Archive Service at Valence House Museum
including photographs and papers of individual members.

In popular culture

In an essay by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...

published in

The Salmon of Doubt ''The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time'' is a wikt:posthumous, posthumous collection of previously published and unpublished material by Douglas Adams. It consists largely of essays, interviews, and newspaper/magazine colum ...

, Adams described the Dagenham Girl Pipers as a wonderful pipe band, writing "With all due respect and love to my dear wife, there are some things that, however loving or tender your wife may be, only a large pipe band can give you.". In series 3, episode 9 of Bless this House, the Dagenham Girl Pipers are toasted by Sid James during a scene where Sid and Jean visit France. The Dagenham girl pipers were often referred to by

Eric Morecambe John Eric Bartholomew, (14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984), known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's de ...

during episodes of The Morecambe and Wise Show. The Dagenham Girl Pipers are credited, and appear briefly, in the 1956 Benny Hill film “Who Done It.”

References

External links

First public performance of the band
{{Authority control Pipe bands Musical groups established in 1930 English marching bands Musical groups from London All-female bands Media and communications in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Dagenham