The St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band is a Grade 1

pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of 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 bagpipe, ...

based in St. Mary's Hospital Campus,

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The band was established in 1910, and won the

World Pipe Band Championships The World Pipe Band Championships is a pipe band competition held in Glasgow, Scotland. Overview The World Pipe Band Championships have been staged since 1947, although the Grade 1 Pipe Band Competition winners at the annual Cowal Highland Gat ...

in 2010. The band's

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 ...

is Alen Tully and Pipe Sergeant is Brendan Murphy. The lead drummer is Stephen Creighton.

History

In 1910 a meeting was organised by the St. Laurence O'Toole Gaelic Athletic Association Club in the CBS school, Seville Place,

. The main mover in forming the band was Frank Cahill who was also a founder of the GAA Club and Drama Club. Frank was for many years an Alderman of Dublin Corporation, and later became a member of the new Irish Parliament (Dáil Éireann). Amongst those present at the meeting were

Irish republicans Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

Pádraig Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who was one of the leaders of the Ea ...

, Thomas Clarke,

Sean McDermott Sean Michael McDermott (born March 21, 1974) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant for the Philadelphia E ...

Arthur Griffith Arthur Joseph Griffith (; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Trea ...

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...

(later to become the first

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

), and the Irish playwright

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. Early life O'Casey was ...

. The band clashed with police at a rally during the

Dublin Lock-out The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Dublin, Ireland. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often viewed as the most severe and s ...

of 1913, when leading a group of protesters to

Liberty Hall Liberty Hall (), in Dublin, Ireland, is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union (SIPTU). Designed by Desmond Rea O'Kelly, it was completed in 1965. It was for a time the tallest building in the countr ...

and during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

the band headquarters were attacked on several occasions by the army. The band ceased any political affiliation after the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

, which ended in 1923. The band won the All Ireland Championships in 1958, and also won two first prizes in Scotland, under the leadership of pipe major John Duggan and drum sergeant Frank Saunders. After a drop in membership, Duggan resigned in 1967 and was not replaced as pipe major, but Tommy Tully was acting pipe major at public engagements, although the band did not compete at this time. During this period the band had been demoted to Grade 3, but won the All Ireland Championships in 1974 and were promoted to Grade 2. Tommy Tully died in 1984, and his son Terry took over as pipe major, having assumed an increasing role in running of the band in the previous years. In its 75th anniversary in 1985, the band won the Champion of Champions award in Grade 2. In 1988, the band were again placed second at the Worlds and were subsequently upgraded to Grade 1. In the band's first outing in Grade 1 in 1989, they beat

Field Marshal Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the ...

into second place. The band won prizes in Ireland, but not in Scotland in 2002, and in 2004 placed in all five Major championships. In 2008, the band won the Scottish and British Championships, and was runner-up in the European and Cowal Championships and placed 5th overall at the World Championships, winning the Champion of Champions in Grade 1. In 2010, the band's centenary year, the band won the World, European and All-Ireland Championships. Terry's son Alen Tully took over as pipe major for the 2014 season. Slot-2018-uk-champions-1

Pipe Majors

*''Michael Colgan'' (1910-?) *''(incomplete information)'' *''John Duggan'' (?-1967) *''Tommy Tully'' (1967-1984) *''Terry Tully'' (1984-2013) *''Alen Tully'' (2013- )

Leading Drummers

*''Frank Saunders'' *''Dominic Casey'' *''John Keogh'' *''Dean Hall'' *''Stephen Creighton''

Discography

*''The Dawning of the Day'' (2005) *''Evolution'' (2010) *''Turas Ceoil : Resume'' (2018)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Laurence O'toole Pipe Band Musical groups established in 1910 Grade 1 pipe bands World Pipe Band Championships winners