Ingersoll Pipe Band. Woodstock Parade. Inside This Issue

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1 Ingersoll Pipe Band Volume 6 Issue 2 June 2016 Woodstock Parade This year's theme for the 2016 IPL 500 Festival Parade in Indianapolis was "Experience the Celebration". This theme was a call-to-action, reminding Hoosiers that the celebration surrounding the iconic events in Indiana were not to be missed. What a fine motto for the Ingersoll Pipe Band members to adopt for every parade and occasion that we will take part in this parade season. Experience and enjoy the celebrations and events to the maximum! And, to all our members and supporters, enjoy those summer vacations as well! - Veronica (Your Editor) Inside This Issue Pg. 1,2, 3 Woodstock Parade Round Up Pg. 4 Photos from Thamesford Pg. 5 London Road Race Participation Pg. 5 Parade Season Approaches Pg. 6 to 12 Indianapolis Remembered Pg. 13 Relays / August Tattoo Update Pg. 14 A Night with the Noxons Pg. 15 to 19 Upcoming Events / A Look Back at Our Past Manager of Community Services for Woodstock, Brad Janssen was interviewed pre parade (by the radio station Heart FM Woodstock) for some details about the 2016 parade. Below is part of his interview: "We're got 13 or 14 marching bands - all really good accomplished marching bands. Lots of floats, lots of Shriners, and the parade marshal this year I'm proud to announce is Pat Roberts. She was with the city for over 30 years and participated in in one way, shape or form, either organizing, judging or helping with the parade for some 28 years." Although it's a big parade, Janssen says they are doing their best to try to keep it moving along at a good clip. (Not sure how we feel about that statement?) "It's going to be probably an hour long, maybe a little bit better. We'll try to eliminate any gaps - that's the thing you hear about parades, 'There was a gap here or there.' But a lot of the same participants in the parade - so they kind of know the routine." (Yes I think that Drum Major Gail and the IPB do!) 1

2 Just in case you wondered where we marched, he described the parade route as follows - The parade route: Depart from the Woodstock Fairgrounds - Mackenzie St - Right onto Dundas St - West to Wellington St South - Henry St West - Finkle St to Southside Park Here are some photos from the 69th annual Victoria D Day parade in Woodstock which was very well attended this year and boasted bright, warm sunny weather conditions! Doug Turvey, Bass Drummer - First Parade Pipers Doug, Charlie, Nancy & Laurie Doug - Post Parade with Harold Don with his famous "Bus" Dummers Juanita and Lisa Relaxing Getting Ready to Tune Up for the Woodstock Parade" 2

3 "Unofficial" Band Photo at the Woodstock fairgrounds Prior to the Annual Victoria Day Parade 2016 Drum Major Gail MacKay at Southside Park Victoria Day Parade

4 Calithumpian Days' Parade Thamesford May 23rd The 98th annual Calithumpian celebration took place over the long Victoria Day Weekend. As usual the band took part in Thamesford's community parade. Here are some photos of band members pre parade and on parade. Thanks to Scott McDonald for sending us some of these pics. 4

5 The Forest City road races were held on April 24th in London. Long time friends of Piper Laurie Marson and neighbours of Drummer Doug Glover, Dan and Beverly, put on a cheering station outside their house at 438 Victoria St, almost opposite Doug's home. At that location both the 10K race and the Half Marathon passed by starting at about Laurie and Veronica and Doug G. played the pipes and drums to encourage the runners. This was well appreciated by all who passed by especially the slower runners. Here are a couple of photos submitted by Laurie and Doug of the morning's festivities. Not that long ago, in Sept. of 2014, a poor little distraught kitten was rescued by The Matthews Family at the pipe band hall. We featured "Piper" in the December 2014 newsletter. She was adopted and is being lovingly cared for by her owners Dave and Pat Kincaid. When the pipe band was invited back to The Kincaid's in Thamesford after the recent Calithumpian Parade, we had a chance to catch up with Piper's progress. There is no doubt in this editor's mind, that this cat indeed found a very special haven to grow up! These two fantastic runners stopped and asked if they could pose with "the local" talent!!? 5

6 The Indy 500 Experience 2016 Many of our band members have made numerous trips south of the border each spring to join with the Indianapolis 500 Gordon Pipers Horsehoe/Pipes and Drums as they take part in the annual Indianapolis 500 Race and all the events that surround it. Each year has its interesting turns and events and the weather always factors into the weekend's activities. Regardless of how many trips IPB members have made to this premiere event, the air is charged with anticipation as we cross over the border into the USA and arrive on the Friday of the Memorial day weekend. Doug G. and John L waiting to depart After checking into our hotel, we had a chance to relax and prepare for the nonstop activities of the next two days. Our appreciation is made again to the Gordon 500's for our excellent accommodations at the Cambria Suites in Noblesville (just outside of Indianapolis). The Turveys waiting to depart Saturday May 28th found us up bright and early, and after a substantial buffet breakfast we gathered in our cars to head into Indianapolis. The Collins Duo enjoying Breakfast One of the original 500 Festival events, the IPL 500 Festival Parade is one of the USA's largest, most respected parades, consistently earning national acclaim alongside the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade and the Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parade. More than 300,000 people were expected to line the streets of downtown Indianapolis to experience the larger-than-life floats, giant helium balloons, celebrities, all 33 drivers competing in the 100 th running of the Indy 500, specialty units, and award-winning bands from across the country and we might add Canada! Not only does 2016 mark the 60 th running of the IPL 500 Festival Parade, it is also filled with celebrations including the 40 th OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, the 100 th running of the Indianapolis 500, as well as the State of Indiana s Bicentennial. To honor these celebrations, the theme for the 2016 IPL 500 Festival Parade was Experience the Celebration! 6

7 The Gathering of The Bands Pre Parade Downtown And The Waiting Begins... 7

8 Marching Along the Parade Route LOOK 8

9 Post Parade BBQ at Tom's Tom Toole, a drummer with the Gordon 500's hosted all of us at his home for a barbecue on Saturday night after the parade. It was a scrumptious meal and both Tom and his very accommodating neighbour put on a fabulous spread for us. Thanks to all the Gordon 500 members for their hospitality and yummy contributions to the dinner. The rain held off and we were able to play some tunes for our hosts. Special guests at the meal included Marnie Diehl, the wife of "Doc" the founder of the Gordon 500's and her daughter, Soupy, who also marched and piped with us at the parade. The Welcome Flags Were Out Soupy, her mom, Marnie, and Marlene Our host, Tom PM Gail and Linda enjoying the BBQ Tom's Fantastic Neighbour Some of our hosts and 500 Friends 9

10 Finally! It's Race Day! So most of the IPB members were up at 4 AM, and ready to depart the hotel at 5 AM to climb aboard the Gordon 500's bus and amake our way to the track. We stopped to pick up some 500 members and then it was off to the track with our Indianapolis police escort. Once again, we bypassed all the traffic and made our way into the field inside of the track. Thanks to Doug Hardwick for his organization and expertise at navigating the roads around the Brickyard. The sun was just coming up as we piled out of the bus and prepared to tune our pipes, and parade over to the Indianapolis Raceway Museum. Here we entertained the fans and then escorted the Borg-Warner Trophy to the Grandstand area. Then we marched across the field, under the track and prepared for another march!!!!! 10

11 On The Track The following group of photos were taken as we stood around and waited to march around turn 4 to "the pits" along with the Purdue Marching Band, and other Indy dignitaries. Clouds were moving in threatening rain! Charlie, Joanne and Jon A relaxing. More down time! Hamish and Laurie posing! John L and fellow piper from a band from southern Indiana that joined us Doug C and Gail passing the time. 11

12 Some Final Images of the Indy 500 After our final march around the track, we departed from "the spotlight" and managed to kick back and relax for the rest of Sunday. Since it was extremely hot and sunny, we all enjoyed some cool beverages and the sounds and sights of the race (yes indeed there was a race with rookie driver Alexander Rossi enjoying the traditional drink of milk at the end). Post race it took a little longer to return to our hotel but we all left The Brickyard as very satisfied fans and participants. Below is a collage of some photos from the Rookie ceremonies, our parting gifts of thanks to the Gordon 500 band, the balloon release, and our three piping colleagues from Southern Indiana Pipes and Drums. Now all we need to do is rest up for next year's excursion to Indianapolis! 12

13 Relay for Life Updates Reminder of Our Upcoming Tattoo Thanks goes out to PM Jack and Piper Jon A for assisting with the Relay for Life opening ceremonies in Tillsonburg on Friday June 3rd. Ingersoll's relay will take place on Friday June 24th. All pipers and drummers who wish to participate should be at IDCI by 9 PM. Also a thank you to Pipers George and Jack and DM Gail MacKay for assisting with the "Right To Life" march in Ingersoll earlier this month. Upcoming Event At The Hall The carpet will be replaced in the band meeting room and in the office area, so this means that we will need to move everything out of the designated areas prior to the installers arriving. We also need to remove the old carpeting and dispose of it. A work evening is scheduled for Wednesday July 13th. DM Gail will issue more instructions as we draw nearer to the date. Please set aside some time if you are around to assist with this project. Thanks to Mary Ellen for taking the lead and arranging for the carpeting to be purchased and installed. When: Sunday August 14th Where: Yvonne Mott Memorial Park Who & Why: Several regional bands have been invited to participate in this special occasion which is one of this summer's commemorative events for "Oxford Remembers Oxford's Own" - a project honouring Oxford County's residents and their participation overseas in World War I. Come and enjoy the sights and sounds of - The Stratford Police Pipes & Drums; Cambridge and District Pipe Band; London Fire Fighters Pipe Band; Huntingford Highlanders Pipe Band; The Royal Scots O' Mocha Pipes and Drums; The London Mocha Shrine Oriental Band; and, The Ingersoll Pipe Band. As a memento of this occasion and celebration, the Ingersoll Pipe Band will be selling buttons ahead of time at the following three locations - Patinas Gift of Arts and Crafts, and McKim's Home Hardware on Thames Street in Ingersoll, and at the Ingersoll Cheese and Agricultural Museum. Buttons will go on sale the week of July 25th. As well, the buttons will also be made available at Yvonne Mott Memorial Park on the day of the tattoo. Buttons will sell for $1.00 apiece. The Band will be asking for volunteers to assist with the sale of these buttons at the park. As well we will require assistance with setting up the hall for a supper after the tattoo. All of the members of the participating bands will be invited back for some nourishment. Some Humor Submitted by Laurie! If you are a learner or a friend of the band and would like to get involved that would be fantastic! As we get closer to the date we will have sign up sheets. 13

14 A Night With the Noxons Noxon's was once the 3rd largest manufacturer of farm machinery in Ontario. They shipped their implements across Canada and into Europe. During World War One, the company went bankrupt when they were unable to deliver goods to their European markets. Wilson McBeath and Professor George Emery presented an evening of stories and history related to the beginning days of the Ingersoll Pipe Band. Before the Great War, it was known as the Noxon Pipe Band. In 1916, when the 168th Oxford's Own Battalion was formed, members of the band were quick to enlist. The evening was one of 100 events taking place between 2014 and 2018 to mark the centennial of World War One. Below are some photos of the evening's events. Thanks to Doug Collins for piping in our guests, and Nancy and Harold Matthews for assisting Veronica with the refreshments. Also a thank you to band members and their families who came out to support this activity. Speakers Being Piped In Wilson Speaking about the IPB Wilson with student Ethan Doug, Wilson and George 14

15 Upcoming Parades & Events 2016 Embro Highland Games - July 1st 10:00 am Step Off Algonac (Michigan) - Lions Parade - July 3rd 2:00 pm March Off from Lions Club Field Canterbury Folk Festival - July 9th 3:50PM March Off from Charles Street to Memorial Park to play at 4:15pm Delhi Cemetary Ceremonies - July 17th 3:00 pm March Off from the Delhi Cemetery WWI Recognition Tattoo - August 14th 1:00 pm March Off from the Band Hall to Memorial Park - Ingersoll The Little Brothers & S. Stowbridge Over the past few issues we have looked back at the life and times of some of our original founding members. For many, there have been detailed records available through the public archives found online. For John (J.C.) Little and his brother James George information has been varied and often scarce. In all likelihood this has been because the brothers had such common names, and searching through records has often led to the wrong individual's past. Another IPB member who we do not know much about is Stanley Herbert Strowbridge, a drummer. He was born in Canada. What we do know is that both Little brothers emigrated from Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland and employment was found for them in 1909 with the Noxon Company foundry. Their cousin William Collins emigrated with them as well and all were welcomed by Jimmie Vance, the Scottish born works manager. With the arrival of Tom Johnston, this formed the basis for the Noxon Pipe Band which became the Ingersoll Pipe Band. One of the brothers, James joined the 168th Battalion in January He listed his mother, Mrs. Nicholas Little as his next of kin and her address was given as Longforth, Glenluce, Wigtown Scotland. Within the same month, several other IPB members had also enlisted - Johnston, Vance, Strowbridge, James Candlish, Wm. Collins, Gordon Cline, and Jock Johnston. Most of these names can be found on the cenotaph outside of the Ingersoll Town Hall and Library. There is also indication on it that Stan Strowbridge died as a result of his military service. James Little returned from overseas but died after his return. There is some debate as to whether he passed away in 1918 or There is a gravestone in the Ingersoll Rural cemetery that would indicate that a James G. Little was buried there in

16 As the war progressed and casualties began to mount it became necessary to replace losses in the field with fresh troops. New Battalions were now being trained and sent to England as fast as possible. Upon arrival in England most of the new Battalions were absorbed into reserve Battalions. From there troops were sent where they were needed ~ either as reinforcements for the 1st and 2nd Divisions or to the 3rd and 4th Divisions as they were being formed in England. The 168th Infantry Battalion - The Oxfords - was among this group latter group. On the following page there is Death Information for James George Little and this information would seem to match what we know about our "James" Little. 16

17 Name of Deceased: Little, Jamey George Date of Death: April 14, 1926 Place of Death: Alexandra Hospital; Ingersoll Sex: M Age: 35 Marital Status: M Birthplace: Scotland Date of Birth: May 6, 1891 Race: Scotch Occupation: Automobile machinist Length of Residence in Canada: 14 years in Ontario Father: Little, John Father's Birthplace: Scotland Mother: Collins, Nickolas? Mother's Birthplace: Scotland Informant: Little, Jammie Informant's Address: Ingersoll Relation to Deceased: Brother Place of Burial: Ingersoll Rural Cemetery Date of Burial: April 16, 1926 Cause of Death and Length of Illness: Did an operaton precede death? No Autopsy? No Date of Registration: April 15, 1926 Cellulitis of head and neck?; 7 days The elder brother, John (J.C.) Little did not enlist during World War I. He had a very successful business on Bell Street in Ingersoll. He had two daughters, Mary and Betty, who prior to their deaths donated quite a bit of material to the Ingersoll Cheese and Agricultural Museum about their father, his activities in the town, his interests, and his business - not only did he operate a garage but he custom built hearses. If you visit the museum you will see a large plaque on display with a photo of him in his piping uniform. Thanks to the website we also have the following information about "Jack" - Originally from Scotland, John J.C. Little ( ) started his North American career as a coachbuilder at Canada's largest coachbuilder, the O.J. Mitchell Hearse Company of Ingersoll, Ontario. He built his first home-built coach sometime in 1937 and by 1940 had saved up enough money to open his own body shop. From his small shop, which was located in the service bays of an Ingersoll Shell station, Little produced a series of hand-built professional coaches until he closed in the late Fifties. He specialized in modifying standard-wheelbase production vehicles into sedan-type ambulances and hearses. 17

18 Little's [cars] were built using the same techniques that had been used by other hearse and ambulance builders for decades. He typically took a standard-wheelbase coupe or sedan and cut it in half through the center of the B-pillar. He then extended the chassis and driveshaft, bridged the sections of framework in the roof and body and then cut and hand-formed pieces of sheetmetal to join the bodywork on either side. Each of the many pieces of metal used to complete the "gap" would have been created and attached individually. The custom-built section was securely welded to the body, and the resulting seams were filled with lead, sanded smooth, and then primed and painted. One outstanding example of Little's early custom coachwork survives to this day. It's a 1941 Cadillac Gothic Carved-Panel side-servicing hearse that was made from a Cadillac Coupe that was cut and lengthened. Little could hardly afford expensive metal dies, so he hand-carved the beautiful gothic panels and side doors from wood, just like the coachbuilders of the Teens and Twenties. The glass placed inside of the arches was blue and the coach was originally painted light gray. The roof was covered in a black crinkle finish by Little, but during its restoration the coach was painted silver with a contrasting metallic gray roof (see The Professional Car, Issue #49, Fall 1988). Also worthy of note was a 1940 DeSoto Carved-Panel Hearse Mr. Little built for a funeral home in Dundas, Ontario. Automobiles were in short supply during the war in Canada as well as in the United States and Little spent the early part of the war modifying vehicles for emergency duty and domestic Civil Defense work. As the war dragged on he stayed busy refurbishing and repainting older cars and coaches as owners tried to extend their usable lifespans. Mr. Little is known to have built a stretched 1941 Packard Clipper hearse near the end of the War for the Needham Funeral Home of Blenheim, Ontario. Little's postwar vehicles were commonly built using standard long-wheelbase 7-passenger sedans that were modified for use as side-servicing ambulances and funeral coaches. Little placed a removable centerpost between the two passenger-side doors and reinforced the door sills and sub-flooring as well as the chassis so the vehicle could accept the extra weight. Built using a Chrysler chassis and equipped with a Bomgardner cot, Little's sedan-ambulance cost half as much as a new LWB ambulance built by a major coachbuilder like Eureka. Occasionally Little would split a standard-wheelbase Chevrolet or Monarch sedan and insert a hand-made section between the halves, but the bulk of his work was in the moreprofitable and affordable sedan-ambulance conversions. A few post-war art-carved hearses are known to have been built as late as 1948 using real carved-wood panels set into a stretched panel van or sedan body. Little also converted a number of post-war long-wheelbase Clippers into sedan-ambulances - one went to the Holmes Ambulance Service of Dresden, Ontario. One memorable side-servicing funeral coach was built using a 1948 Lincoln sedan on a noticeably stretched wheelbase. The incredibly wide rear side-doors could accommodate a casket without the need to open the front doors. The Lincoln retained its stock rear-end and could only be loaded from the side. During 1948, Little made a couple of stretched wheelbase funeral coaches based on Chevrolet sedan deliveries, one a standard limousine-style with windows all around and the other a beautiful carved-panel hearse built using actual carved wood panels. It was the very last carved-panel hearse to be made by any coachbuilder outside of Japan. Little did numerous post-war conversions of Chrysler products using modified eight-passenger sedans. Photos exist of an attractive 1949 black steel-topped landau hearse built by Little. 18

19 In 1950 Little made an unusual flower car out of a standard wheelbase 1950 Meteor (Canadian Ford) two-door coupe. A number of early (1953) to mid 50s (1956) Ford sedan-deliveries still exist that were converted by Little into funeral cars Mark Theobald - Coachbuilt.com with special thanks to Thomas A. McPherson and Kevin Lotsberg 1940 Clipper Hearse built by Jack little Jack had a long time interest in the Ingersoll Pipe Band that he helped to found. He died in Thank you from all the present members of the IPB to these fine individuals who gave so much of their lives to create such a rich piping and drumming heritage for us. 19