3rd Annual Piping for the Padre

On Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 PM, the British Columbia Regiment Irish Pipes & Drums will be joined by the 15th Field Artillery Band for the 3rd Annual Piping for the Padre. The concert is a fundraiser for the Padre’s Fund, which provides support for the women and men of the reserves, particularly the BC Regiment. The fund provides resources for resilience training, physical training, and spiritual and mental support, as well as financial support for the troops.

The BC Regiment Irish Pipes and Drums is an all-volunteer band made up of civilian women, men, and youth of diverse ethnic origins. It is based out of the Beatty Street Drill Hall in Vancouver. The band practices at Templeton High School in East Vancouver on Tuesdays and at the Beatty Street Drill Hall on Mondays.

The members of the band finance their operations through many fundraising events and the kind donations of supporters. They play at civic functions, charitable events, parades, and military functions, primarily in the Metro Vancouver Area.

The 15th Field Regiment (RCA) Band is one of five Reserve Force bands in the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, located at Bessborough Armoury in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a brass and reed band that is part of the RCA’s 15th Field Artillery Regiment. All 45 members of the band are reservists who are being trained as both soldiers and musicians. The Band plays for a variety of events including military funerals, ceremonies, parades, and Mess events. The band maintains a full marching and concert band, and also supports other musical ensembles, including jazz combos and rock bands.

The band’s Director of Music is the unit’s principal conductor and is responsible for the band’s creative direction. The band was formed in 1934, 20 years after the regiment’s establishment, and just after it moved into its current base. Since 1994, the band has been the only reserve band on mainland British Columbia. In 2000, the band outgrew its facilities in the Bessborough Armoury and relocated to the Garrison Headquarters building near Jericho Beach on English Bay. The Band then moved to the newly built Hoffmeister Building near the Burrard Street Bridge in 2019. Although still under the command and control of the home regiment, the band functions largely independently as a self-contained subunit and performs more than one hundred engagements annually.