Munro Pipe Band and Orchestra

Posted by Glengarry Celtic Music Hall of Fame
The Munro family of Apple Hill were well known throughout the county and beyond for their musical ability. Headed by their father, Phillip Ross Munro and his wife, Catherine, they used to put on completer concerts around the county and area.

Phillip and his son Sandy played the violins. Sandy also played the pipes along with his brother Willie, and both were self taught. Hughie Donald played the snare drum, and since Johnnie -the youngest - had not learned another instrument, he played the bass drum. The girls played the piano and the whole family sang. One special attraction was when Willie dressed as Harry Lauder and entertained with Scottish song.

The brothers became the Munro Pipe Band of Apple Hill and played at many fairs and lawn socials in Glengarry and beyond in such places as Ormstown, Huntingdon, Newington, Riceville and Dundee.

The band was suspended during WWI as some of the members were involved in the war. It was reactivated after the war and played at many local events and gatherings. A new generation grew to fill the ranks. Two of Sandy’s sons, Hughie and Allan, and Willie’s sons, Arnold and Glenn, became pipers, while Wallace (Willie’s son) became a drummer.

With the beginning of WWII, the band’s activities were again suspended. Willie and his nephew, Hughie, joined the S.D.&G. Highlanders’ Pipe Band. Willie had the honour of being part of a small group of Canadians who played for King George IV and his wife. Hughie paid the supreme sacrifice and was killed in action in France in 1944.

After WWII, the band did not perform together often, but members did play with the S.D.& G Highlanders and the Glengarry Pipe Band when it was formed.