My Father's Bagpipes

My father, Bernard A. Heslin, died on December 12, 1995, he was 97 years old. When my sisters were cleaning out my parent's house at 413 Long Street, Warwick Rhode Island, they found an old wooden box which contained my father's bagpipes. They were in bad condition with the bag portion of the bagpipes almost completely deteriorated from age. They were obviously unplayable.

My sister Teresa decided that the old pipes should go to me so on one of my trips to New England Teresa gave me the box with the pipes in it.

I kept the box in a closet for awhile and then, when we purchased our house in Tampa Florida, I decided to display the pipes up on a shelf in the living room. When we sold the Florida house, I brought the pipes back to our Carolina house and left them in the wooden box.

I also received a small, black, and white picture from my sister of my father, in full kilts with the bagpipes, as a part of the Manchester NH Kiltie Band. The picture was from 1938. I had the little picture professionally restored and sent out copies to the family. Dad is on the far right as you look at the picture.

In the spring of 2021, I agreed to be on the planning committee for my 60th La Salle Academy class reunion which was scheduled for October 16th 2021. During the planning I suggested that we have a bagpiper come to the reunion and have him play Amazing Grace during the reunion mass. Some of the committee did not want that saying we did not need to have a funeral song at the reunion and who would pay for the piper. I said I would find a piper and pay him to come to the event. As it turned out, I found Arthur Graham from Boston MA who agreed to come in full kilts. He agreed to play Amazing Grace during the mass and then play Scotland the Brave as we processed out of the mass.

After the event I told Arthur about my Dad's bagpipes and asked if he knew where I might get them repaired. He did not hesitate, he told me that J. Dunbar Bagpipe Maker in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada was the best in the business. I contacted them and Rick responded to my request. He said to send pictures of the pipes and they would look to see if they might be saved. After I sent the pictures, Rick said to send the pipes because they thought they could restore them. He asked if I wanted the restoration work for the pipes to be for displayed only, or did I want them to be playable. It was more expensive to get them into playable condition. I said I wanted them to be playable. I mailed the pipes to Rick but not the box. After several months I received the pipes back in fully restored condition. It cost about $1,000 for the work and Rick said he would guess they were now worth, at a minimum, $3,500.

After I received them, I started putting out the word to the family that if anyone in my father's blood line could demonstrate that they could play bagpipes, I would give them the pipes. In the meantime, I contacted some local pipers to see if I could get help getting the reeds installed in the pipes and to see if they would be willing to play them so I could hear them. After months of back and forth with the pipers and basically no interest on their part, I gave up on the idea.

In December of 2022 I called my sister Joan Lambie and reminded her of my hope to find a person who might want to take on the project. I was thinking maybe her son Jimmie might be interested. As it turned out, Jimmie and his wife Andrea were visiting in Pennsylvania with Joan when I called. Jimmie came on the phone and I told him about my proposal. I said if he could show that he knew how to play bagpipes I would be happy to give him dad's pipes. He was immediately excited about the project. As we spoke, Andrea was on her phone and located a bagpipe instructor close to their home in Virginia Beach. We were all very excited.

Jimmie told me that when he was a young boy, he had asked Dad repeatedly if he would teach him how to play the bagpipes. Eventually, Dad got the pipes out of the box and realized that they were so deteriorated they could not be played.

During the call, Jean and I offered Jimmie and Andrea a week at Myrtle Beach in one of our timeshares so they could come down and pickup the pipes. They were delighted and said that they could come the third week in April when Andrea was on spring break from her teaching. Jimmie said he would keep me informed of his progress in learning to play the pipes. He set up a YouTube channel and sent me regular updates of his progress. Both he and Andrea were enjoying the journey with the pipes but Jimmie, though he as an accomplished, professional musician, admitted it was a more difficult task to learn to play the bagpipes than he had expected. Through his instructor, he became part of a wonderful group of friends who played the pipes and Jimmie's goal was to become part of their bagpipe band in Virginia Beach. It was truly exciting to see and hear his progress.

When they arrived on Sunday evening in Myrtle Beach, we met them at the Riptide and talked about the weeks schedule. Jimmie had been learning the pipes on a borrowed set from his instructor. He also had purchased a full set of Kilts which he brought with him. On Monday, Jimmie and Andrea came to the house to get the pipes. Jimmie brought his full kilts and then went into the bedroom to put them on and to get Dad's bagpipes ready to play. Jean, Andrea, and I waited in the living room as Jimmie warmed up the pipes with the new reeds. He finally came out in full kilts with the pipes ready to play. He stepped into the Carolina Room and as Andrea recorded the moment, he played Amazing Grace. I was a soulful moment that brought a tear to my eye. After more than 85 years Dad's bagpipes came alive in the most beautiful way. We all knew, Dad was there smiling to hear his grandson play his bagpipes.

I am so grateful to Jimmie for doing this. I sent out pictures of the event and a link of Jimmie playing Amazing Grace to the family. I also sent it all out to my sister Joan and her husband Jim along with members of the Mahony family so they could share it with Teresa. Jimmie said he would become the family piper and Teresa was delighted because she wants Dad’s pipes played at her funeral. Wouldn’t we all.

Jimmie and Andrea are now both in the Tidewater Pipe Band in Virginia Beach. Jimmie playing my Dad’s one hundred-year-old pipes and Andrea playing a drum. I am sure that my Dad in heaven is delighted that his grandson is now playing his bagpipes.