HISTORY
Since he was a seven year old Boy Scout in Scotland, eagerly seeking a musician’s arm badge, Pipe Major Waterton-Anderson has been honing his bagpiping skills with the Scottish bagpipes and through many years in both pipe band work and playing solo, he possesses a wealth of experience upon which he can draw.
By the mid 1970’s,David was among the ranks of the ‘Pontefract & District Caledonian Society Pipe Band, eventually becoming the band Secretary and Quartermaster. In 1983, he took part in a series of Military Tattoos in Denmark where both ‘Pontefract’ & ‘City of Newcastle’ bands played alongside the pipes & drums of the ‘King’s Own Scottish Borderers,’ and the ‘Black Watch.’ As the band climbed the competition ladder, he was part of the winning team that achieved a rise from ‘grade 4’ to ‘grade 3’ whilst also winning prizes in ‘grade 2.’ For a most successful visit in 1996 to Swabisch Gemund in Germany, he was appointed ‘Acting Pipe Major’ of the band, an office which he later took over.
some members of which were looking to form a new band. In those early days he became involved as a Highland dancer with the newly formed “City of Leeds Pipe Band” where he took instruction from Pipe Major Jeff Nixon, before
For general wear and when playing in solo competitions, David wears his own private family tartan, known as “Anderson of Kinneddar” (see to the left of the page), but when playing for weddings and other ceremonial occasions, he wears the “Anderson of Ardbrake” tartan. Piping has been instrumental in taking him all around the world and he has an impressive list of cultural exchange visits including France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Ukraine & America.
In his days at boarding school, he was fortunate enough to have an English Master who was an ex-Captain in the Royal Highlanders, The Black Watch, who lost no time in finding a set of bagpipes for David to play in the school Corps. Later at university in Leeds, he met with a mentor and piping expert Donald MacKenzie (known as Willie), who took him for instruction. Donald Iain Mackenzie had been Piper & First Footman to the Marchioness of Londonderry for twelve years prior to World War II and was a winner of the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering in 1936 and was a very prolific winner at many other gatherings also. His time at University also brought contact with the Pipe Band of the Scottish Regimental Association of Yorkshire (The Yorkshire Jocks),
becoming a piper in the ranks of the newly formed band. He became Pipe Corporal and was among the ranks of pipers when the band lifted the coveted grade 4 championship at the Cowal Highland Gathering in 1969. During the late sixties, he was selected to be a pupil of William M. MacDonald (“The Muich”) who was a piper and teacher of great renown, having won the Gold Medal at both the Argyllshire Gathering and the Northern Meeting in 1955, plus the clasp the following year. David benefited greatly from this relationship through an impressive tutorage pedigree.
His sense of dignity and occasion will lend itself to any formal event where the day needs to be “right.”
In October 2006, he was knighted by His Holiness the Supreme Pontif, Pope Benedict XVI, as a Knight of St. Gregory the Great (Civil Division).
HISTORY
