Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band

The Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band is a World Champion grade one pipe band from Lisburn, Northern Ireland and named in honour of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.

History
The band was founded in 1945 in the townland of Drumalig, a few miles from Carryduff on the outskirts of Belfast. A group of farmer’s sons had decided to form a band as a leisure pursuit in the wake of World War II, and they proposed to call their formation after Bernard Law Montgomery. The youths wrote to Field Marshal Montgomery to ask for permission to use his name, and as well as allowing them to use his name he donated ten shillings to their fund. In the years to follow, the band successfully worked its way through the lower grades, led by its first pipe major Billy Maxwell, who later became band president, and died in 2013. He was later succeeded by Sandy Cumming, and then Ricky Newell, with whom the band won the Grade 3 World Championship in 1976. Richard and Gordon Parkes joined a few months apart in 1967, and took over as Pipe Major and Drum Sergeant 1981, after joining through the amalgamation with the Raffrey Pipe Band.

The band won its first Grade 1 Major at Cowal in 1990, and its first World Championships in 1992. It went on to win all five Majors in 1993.

In the decade 2000-2009, the band won 28 major championships, including four more World Championships and five runners-up awards. In 2004, Pipe Major Richard Parkes suffered a stroke, and the band was led by Alastair Dunn until Richard recovered and led the band to win the last three majors of the season. Richard was awarded an MBE at in the 2004 Birthday Honours for services to pipe band music in Northern Ireland.

The band won the World Championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013, also becoming the first band to win all the Major competitions in a single year more than once. 2013 was also the first year that the Drum Corps won the world title.

Band
, the band is made up of the Pipe Majors and Sergeant and the Drum Major, as well as twenty-six pipers, nine drummers and seven members on tenor and bass. The youngest member is 16 and the oldest is 53.

Honours
The band has won a total of 58 major championships, namely 14 Scottish Championships, 11 British Championships, 11 European Championships, 9 World Championships, 12 Cowal Championships and the inaugural United Kingdom Championships. Further, the band has won 23 Ulster Championships, 21 All-Ireland Championships, and gained 12 RSPBA Champion of Champions titles. Since its first Grade 1 prize at a major championship in 1990, the band has never been out of the top six at a major championship, finishing in the prize list in 119 consecutive championship competitions.

The Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band became the last band to win the Cowal Championship and thus Argyll Shield whilst it was still accredited RSPBA Major championship status.

On 3 December 2011 Field Marshal Montgomery was named Pipe Band of the Year at the 2011 MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.