Scottish Pipe Band Opens Township Committee Meeting

It's not every day that a governing body begins its meeting with a full-fledged performance by a Scottish pipe band with men clad in kilts.

The Scots Guard and Rampant Lion Pipe Band, a Basking Ridge-based pipe band, flung open the doors of the meeting room and marched in just minutes after the Township Committee officially opened its Sept. 28 meeting.

Following a brief rendition of the haunting sounds of bonnie old Scotland, Mayor Scott Spitzer read a resolution honoring the band for its cultural contributions. The band performs its Scottish, British and European-style music throughout the area, the mayor said.

The band was founded by Pipe Major David Palladino-Sinclair, a township resident. Sinclair said the Scottish pipers who have joined the band since its inception in 2007 are from throughout the Somerset Hills, Morristown and other communities.

The band has performed at the annual Bonnie Brae Scottish games held in early summer at the Bonnie Brae school and residential treatment center in Liberty Corner. The Scottish pipers also join other events, such as parades, Sinclair said. The band was part of the Sept. 25 parade celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Liberty Corner Fire Co.

Sinclair said the band generally practices twice a week. He said the pipers meet most Tuesdays at the Veterans Administration hospital in Lyons, and on Wednesdays at the Liberty Corner Fire Co. The pipers do not wear their kilts to practice, he said.