Band of the Irish Guards and the Drums, Pipes and Dancers of the Royal Regiment of Scotland

The Irish Guards were formed on 1 April 1900 on
the expressed wish of HM Queen Victoria to
commemorate the bravery of the many Irish
Regiments who had fought in the South African
campaigns. The Regimental Band was formed
at about the same time and consisted initially of
35 musicians and a Warrant Officer, Mr C H Hassell,
who was the Bandmaster. The Band quickly gained
a reputation for excellence and in 1905 was invited
to make what turned out to be the... more first of
many tours of Canada. The people of Toronto were
so impressed with the band's performance that
they presented the Band with a large and very
ornate Silver Cup that remains a cherished
possession of the Band today.

There is a fine tradition in the British Army of
bands providing musical support to troops on
active service. It engenders a unique espirit-de-
corps and during both World Wars the Band
regularly travelled to active service areas in order
to give morale-boosting performances to the troops.
During World War II in particular, the commitments
of the Band had so intensified that its strength
was increased to 65 musicians.

Over the years the Band has toured extensively
visiting Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile,
Uruguay, Germany, Hong Kong, France,
Luxembourg, Switzerland and Japan. In 2010,
The Band of the Irish Guards will make its debut
tour of the United States of America. It was in
Japan where the band was accorded the unique
honour of being the first band ever to play in the
Imperial Palace in the presence of the Empress
and the 2 Crown Princesses. The Band has toured
Australia twice, once in 1957 for 10 weeks as part
of a world tour, and more recently in 2004 for a
six-week concert tour of both Australia and New
Zealand. The latter consisted of 27 performances,
which took in all the major cities and included the
Sydney Opera House.

With a current establishment of 49 musicians
the band has a variety of professional ensembles
that include a Concert Band, Marching Band,
Salon Orchestra, Dance Band, Fanfare Trumpeters
and several other smaller ensembles. The band's
main duty is to play, in turn with the other 4 Foot
Guards Bands, for the Mounting of The Queen's
Guard at Buckingham Palace and for state
ceremonial occasions and public duties such
as Investitures, State Visits, Royal Weddings,
Guards of Honour, Royal Garden Parties and,
of course, The Queen's Birthday Parade (Trooping
the Colour).

The Band has made many broadcast and
recordings over the years and in the 1950's was
chosen to give the UK premier performance of
Paul Hindemith's 'Symphony for Concert Band'
live 'On Air'. The Band has also appeared on
television (most notably for the Queen's 80th
Birthday Celebration in Windsor recently), and
in films (The 'Ipcress File' starring Michael Caine).
Upon retirement from the Service a number of
musicians have continued their careers with the
National Orchestras, which included the Halle,
the BBC Symphony and the Orchestra of the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In addition to their musical activites, Musicians
are trained to give support to the Army Medical
Services in the event of mobilisation. Three of
our musicians served in the first Gulf War of
1990/1991 and in June 1999 the band was
deployed to Kosovo as part of a NATO Peace-
keeping force.