SFU concert sells out; pushing $25k in donations

The Simon Fraser University Theatre is sold out for the March 28th SFU “Pipe Up for Cancer” concert in aid of the BC Cancer Foundation, and the band is so far close to raising $25,000 for the cause in support of band member Andrew Bonar.

What’s more, 20 people – including former Pipe-Major Terry Lee, Pipe-Sergeant Jack Lee and Leading-Drummer Reid Maxwell – will shave their heads in a special “Balding for Boney” spectacle immediately following the show.

“The support that people have shown for Andrew Bonar through our Pipe Up for Cancer event has really been amazing,” said Jack Lee, who is also the band’s president. “Andrew Bonar is a much loved and admired throughout the piping word. He is a great friend, piper and person and a long-time member of the SFU Pipe Band. Thanks to everyone who has participated and shown their support we have been able to raise over $20,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation, the cancer organization selected by Andrew.”

Bonar and his family will be at the concert on Saturday night, and his daughter, Kate, an accomplished Highland dancer will perform at the show with the Heather Jolley Highland Dancers. The band revealed that Skye Richendrfer, a former piper with the band in its early days, will emcee the event. Richendrfer heads up the successful Celtic Arts Foundation in Washington state, and also played with Bonar in the Abbotsford Legion Pipe Band in the late-1970s.

The concert and balding will be live-streamed on the Internet starting at 6 pm PST on March 28th at http://new.livestream.com/sfupb/PipeUpForCancer. The livestream is free, but unless you are complete penny-pinching putz you will make a donation to the BC Cancer Foundation while you enjoy one of the world’s greatest pipe bands entertain you for the better part of two hours.

Andrew Bonar has been a member of SFU since the early-1980s, and is one of the world’s most accomplished solo pipers, with his many awards including the Silver Medal at the Northern Meeting in 2010. He was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer last year and has been undergoing treatment since shortly after the 2014 World Pipe Band Championships, at which he competed with SFU.

Bonar wrote a moving account of his ordeal for pipes|drums in November of last year.

pipes|drums Magazine has donated $250 to the BC Cancer Foundation in Andrew Bonar’s name.