18/03/2026
Pipes & Drums Of Geneva - 50th Anniversary.
This year, the Pipes & Drums of Geneva; which evolved as part of the GSFC, and has seen club members past and present - and their children - among their numbers; are celebrating their 50th Anniversary with a concert at the place of their first concert. It will take place on Saturday 20th June at 4:45pm at the Cathédrale St Pierre in Geneva's Old Town. The club are proud to support this event, and celebrate the anniversary of an organization so well linked with our own club. Please see further details below, and we hope to see you on the day.
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Pipes and Drums of Geneva
The Pipes and Drums of Geneva is a multi-national community band founded in 1976. Down the years it has attracted pipers and drummers of all ages and backgrounds, including American, Australian, Breton, Canadian, Czech, French, Polish, Scottish and, of course, Swiss, all based at different times in Geneva or the surrounding area.
The band’s first public performance was to march through the old town of Geneva, marking the launch of the Clefs de Saint-Pierre festival, which raised more than one million Swiss francs for the restoration of the Cathedral.
It is entirely fitting then that the band will return to the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre on Saturday, 20 June at 16h45 this year to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a very special concert, as part of Geneva’s Fête de la Musique. It will be an occasion not to be missed and what could be better? Entry will be free! We hope many of you will join us for this special celebration.
In the early 1970s, founder Charles Forman started teaching piping to a few Scottish friends working with him in CERN. His goal was to form a group of keen bagpipe players, without imagining at the time that they would grow sufficiently numerous and confident enough to form a real pipe band!
For many years, the group remained mainly a friendly weekly gathering at which to share a common love for the Great Highland Bagpipes, while demand to perform grew in tandem with the band’s growing reputation. Every member back then took pride in their own family tartans. And so it was decided that the newly created pipe band would not have a single tartan (unlike in most pipe bands) but would leave each new member, of whatever origin, free to choose and wear the colours of either their personal or “adopted” clan. So it is that the Pipes and Drums of Geneva have always worn multiple tartans, it is our brand, and it is our tradition that corresponds very well to the international character of the city of Geneva.
Since 2014, when it formalised its status as an association, the band has served as a local point of contact for anyone searching for individual pipers to play for their special occasion or to hire a pipe band for a corporate or civil event or other celebration in the Geneva, La Côte and France voisine areas. The band is a regular performer at the Geneva Scottish Football Club’s annual Saint Andrew’s Ball.
The group's musical level continues to improve through weekly practices, occasional weekend workshops, the acquisition of new equipment, and free lessons continue to be given in bagpiping and drumming for anyone of any age motivated to learn. Many of our players past and present, and their families, have enjoyed a close association with the football club through the years.
So why not come and learn with us? We meet every Monday evening during school term time in L'école des Ranches, in Vernier. For more information on the band and its activities please contact us by email at .
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/pipesanddrumsofgeneva/
PS: Can you help?
In 1997, a 6/8 march tune was composed in honour of the pipe band, appropriately titled Pipes and Drums of Geneva. We are re-introducing it into our repertoire to mark this special year. The original composition is credited to an S.J. Provan but, regrettably, that’s as much as we know. Because this pre-dates our registering as an association, we have no records to tell us if this person was a member of the band, or even their gender! In the event that this person was indeed local to the Scottish community in Geneva, perhaps you or a family member may be able to help us to identify them? If you have any information which you can share with us, please let us know by contacting Kathryn Watson via the above email address.
