Drummers and pipers go to bat for ALS

A group of Ontario-based pipers and drummers, led by long-time Grade 1 drummer Scott Perrier, will band together in support of long-time friend and fellow pipe bandsman Murray Brown, with finds going to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

The concert and performance will be on January 23, 2016, at the Canadian Bush Plane Museum in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in association with the annual local Robert Burns Dinner and Ceilidh, which routinely attracts more than 500 attendees. Perrier has been working on the project with ALS Canada, and had created a website for donations and more information.

The lineup for the concert is still a work in progress, but performers so far include many drummers from Perrier’s days with the 78th Fraser Highlanders and other Ontario-based Grade 1 bands: Scott Benson , Doug Innes, Dave Fenton, Michael Hunter, Ian Madeiros, Ian Rollo, Alan Savage, Glenn Smith, Andre Tessier and Dan Weeks.

Murray Brown is a sergeant in the Thunder Bay Police and has played with numerous pipe bands for more than 30 years, including the Peel Regional Police, Maple Ridge, the Abbotsford Police and, for more than 16 years, the MacGillivray Pipe Band. He left the police force in January 2014 due to his condition.

To date the project has raised $500, and has a goal of reaching $10,000.