Plans are under way to create a new pipe band for Lochside at the North West Community Campus.
The South West Scotland Piping and Drumming Academy provides free piping and drumming tuition in schools across the region and also holds classes outwith school times so there is equal opportunity for all interested children.
Now, the weekly tuition at the North West Community Campus has been so popular that headteacher Barry Smith wants to form a band and has enlisted the support of the academy professionals.
Andy McCartney, chairman of the piping and drumming academy, appealed to Dumfries Lions Club to see if they could help out with funding to buy the equipment.
On Saturday, the project took a huge leap forward when Dumfries Lions Club president Jock Carlyle made a donation of £500 to the South West Scotland Piping and Drumming Academy to help make it happen.
John MacColl of the Lions Club said: “Barry Smith, the head teacher at the North West Community Campus, is to form their own pipe band assisted by the South West Scotland Piping and Drumming Academy and the donation by the Lions will assist in achieving this.”
They have recently set up a monthly piping and drumming tuition workshop at The Bridge in Dumfries which will run for the next three years. Early beginners are from 10.30am to noon and more advanced from 12.30pm to 3.30pm.
