Pipe band bids stalwart Tom a fond farewell

AT TIMES pipe major, president and ultimately honorary life president of the band, until recently Tom was also greatly involved in tutoring novice pipers and was overall a staunch supporter of the band’s activities.

Some of the young pipers he had taught even played for him outside the Edington Hospital, where he spent his last days.

Born on Boxing Day in 1932, Tom Fergusson was just eight years old when he joined the North Berwick Scout Pipe Band in 1941.

His family had moved east from blitz-ravaged Clydebank and quickly settled into their new home surroundings in North Berwick, where they had relatives.

With a practice chanter borrowed from an uncle and a second-hand tutor book, Tom learned to play the Scout band’s repertoire of tunes and participated in all events and engagements.

In 1950, the band represented Scotland at the Scout Jamboree in Denmark.

When the Scout band became the town’s pipe band in 1957, Tom transferred his skills to this new outfit as a founder member and rose to the rank of pipe major in the 1970s.

During his time with the band, he performed in Portugal and played several times at the ‘Internationale Folklorelawine’ festival in Germany (for many years a photo of him in full band uniform featured on the homepage of the festival’s website).

As a tutor, he passed on his skills to succeeding generations of young pipers, including his own son, who now lives in New Zealand.

He will be dearly missed in the community in North Berwick and at East Fortune, where he was enthusiastically involved with the Aviation Preservation Society of Scotland.

The North Berwick Pipe Band is currently holding socially distanced outdoor practices on the town’s Elcho Green every Wednesday evening. New members, of all ages and abilities, are always welcome.