King Edward VII School Pipe Band

The spirit and camaraderie that King Edward VII School has engendered sets us apart from most other schools.

Our School remains at the cutting edge of holistic education, ever mindful of our ethos, values and heritage. The rounded and balanced environment for which our School is famed combines legacy with leadership, high moral standards with high-tech facilities, all focused on an unrelenting goal for the boys we teach and mentor – Academic, Cultural and Sporting Excellence.

While formal and informal aspects of education are interwoven, extra-mural activities teach lessons that cannot be learnt in the classroom - legacy, leadership and loyalty.

The School’s loyal men have fought in many wars and won many military honours. Not all came home. The School has the highest number of fallen outside Great Britain from the two World Wars. Alumni have fought for freedom and democracy in South Africa and for justice throughout the world. Above all our alumni have a loyalty to their friends and schoolmates and a generosity of spirit, which cannot easily be matched.

On 10 September 1946, Mr Fotheringham, Mayor of Johannesburg and member of the Governing Body, announced to the school Governing Body that he was prepared to present the school cadet corps with the equipment necessary to form a pipe band.

Under the tutelage of former Black Watch Pipe Major, George Ackroyd, the King Edward VII School Pipe Band made its first public appearance at a sports day on the 25th of March 1950, with Drum Major P.J. Scott leading the Band to rapturous applause.

Mr J. S. Fotheringham is regarded as the founder of the King Edward VII School Pipe Band. There was a patch in the 1950’s where there was talk of disbanding the Band. The then School Pipe Major John Farmer took it upon himself to ensure that this never happened.

Throughout its illustrious history the King Edward VII School Pipe Band has produced some of South Africa’s most successful pipers and drummers. Most notably, Pipe Major Chris Mulinder who returned to the Band in 1975 to tutor the Pipe Corps and is to this day still an integral part of any piper’s career at KES. Former Pipe Major Craig Sked, a member of Scottish Power Pipe Band, won the prestigious Oban Silver Medal in Scotland and former Leading Drummer Callaghn Soligram and Peter Davidson played and tutored for the World Championship winning pipe band Benoni Mac-Talla in 2009.

Most recently, former pipe Major Kgabe Molepo competed at the World Championships in 2017, with the Auckland and Districts Pipe Band from New Zealand. Highlights of the Band’s school calendar are the trip to the small town of Kaapsehoop to remember fallen soldiers from the World War 1 battle of Delville Wood and the Armistice Parade in November which is often the first parade for newcomers to the Band. This is always an impressive affair featuring the haunting lament played by the Pipe Major.

Today, the Pipe Band still endures through the hard work and dedication of many tutors who have given up their time to ensure that not only does the School have a pipe band but also that the band does exceptionally well in competitions.

The band’s tutors are drawn from pipe bands with just as an illustrious history as the King Edward VII School Pipe Band. These include the South African Irish Pipes and Drums, Transvaal Scottish, Richmond Avenue and Benoni Mac-Talla.

In 2021, the King Edward VII School Pipe Band celebrated its 75th birthday.

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