Student Life

The Pipe Band

The St. Thomas' Episcopal School Pipe Band began in the early 1960's when the school's founding Rector, The Reverend T. Robert Ingram, decided he wanted a school band with a distinctive identity. His love of his Scottish heritage led him to the bagpipes and he decided a pipe band was just what the school needed.

Getting a bunch of young Texan boys to learn the bagpipes and drums, and then wear kilts, was not an easy undertaking; but neither was saying no to Mr. Ingram. Mr. Ingram contacted Pipe Major Donald Shaw Ramsey, who was then living in California. He came to the school for a number of years to conduct two-week workshops. The church organist, John Moseley, began to learn the pipes so he could teach the students in Ramsay's absence, and the school's Headmaster, Henry L. Walters, Jr., began teaching the drums.

From these humble origins, the St. Thomas' Episcopal School Pipe Band has grown to become one of the world's most respected pipe bands, winning Juvenile Pipe Band World championships in 1985, 1995, 1998, 2004, and 2006.

The Band performs throughout the community. Over the last few years the band has played for the Colitis Foundation's Winter Ball, The Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Houston Blood Center and the Sugar Land Rotary. It has also performed for Queen Elizabeth II and former President George Bush.

 

For more information about the Pipe Band including performance schedules or purchasing one of the band's compact discs, visit the bands web site at www.stespb.com.