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Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band are delighted to announce that D/M Tom Brown has been awarded an MBE for services to Scottish Traditional Music in the Queen’s New Year Honors list.
Tom joined Boghall & Bathgate in 1978 and went on to lift every major drumming prize and was the first corps to win the “Alex Duthart Memorial Trophy” for the Grade 1 Champion of Champions Drum Corps.
In 1991 Tom decided to retire from the Grade 1 Band to spend more time with the Novice, Juvenile and Grade 3 corps’ and handed over the reins of the Grade 1 corps to his son, Gordon. However, a year later Tom was convinced to take over as Leading Drummer of the Grade 2 band. Over the next eight years, Tom and the Grade 2 drum corps went on to win every major drumming award including three Grade 2 World Championship titles.
Since that time Tom has stepped down from active competition however the Boghall feeder system has continued and to this day almost all drummers joining the Grade 1 corps have received tuition from Tom or Gordon via the Novice and Juvenile corps’.
Tom now dedicates a huge amount of his time to teaching drummers joining the Novice Juvenile band and takes great pride at watching their journey through the Boghall organisation to the Grade 1 corps. His ability to get the best out of each player within the Novice corps is unsurpassed.
Band President, Grant Walker, said of the appointment:
“The Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate organisation is, naturally, extremely proud to learn of Tom's richly deserved award of an MBE for services to pipe band drumming. There are literally thousands of drummers throughout the world who have either received instruction or been influenced by his long-term commitment to the teaching and advancement of pipe band percussion over the last five decades. It's safe to say that our band would not have enjoyed the enduring success on the competition field without him. Pipe Major Bob Martin recruited Tom from the legendary Shotts and Dykehead drum corps of Alex Duthart in 1977 and always maintained that he was the best signing the band ever made. As a leading drummer, composer, arranger and teacher, Tom stands out as one of the all-time greats. This award represents a tremendous acknowledgement not only for a very unassuming man and his family but also serves as something that the whole pipe band movement will be delighted to take heart from.”
Tom’s story featured in the Edinburgh Evening News on Saturday 28 December 2019.
