The recent upgrading of the Oban Pipe Band from Grade 3A to Grade 2 was richly deserved after a season which saw them crowned World Champions in their grade.
Their founder was Pipe Major Angus Lawrie, ‘Old Toastie’ immortalised in the hornpipe of the same name written by his nephew, also Angus Lawrie.
(Old Toastie’s son was Ronald Lawrie, Gold Medallist and former P/M of the City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band.)
P/M Angus died in 1971 and this obituary appeared in the Oban Times in July that year: ‘The death has taken place in an Oban hospital of Pipe Major Angus Lawrie, well known throughout the West Highlands as a piper and as an exponent of the jaws’ harp.
‘A native of Oban, Mr Lawrie, who was 79, was born in 1892 the eldest son of Mr and Mrs James Lawrie who lived in Tweedale Street. He received his education at St John’s School, Oban, and as a young boy began work on the lighthouse ship Hesperus as a cabin boy.
‘He then took up employment with Messrs MacDonald as a fishmonger and poulterer until the start of the First World War.
‘During hostilities he served with the Argyll Mountain Battery in the Dardanelles, and in other foreign parts. For some time he was hospitalised in Malta and later invalided home.
‘On demobilisation he began working for British Rail as a railway carter and spent most of his working life — over 40 years — in this job. When he retired from the railway he worked for a period with the Oban Times as a handyman.
‘Throughout his life his greatest love was piping and in his field he excelled. In 1922 he founded Oban Pipe Band and as its piper major he led the band on innumerable occasions in Oban and many parts of the country. He was tutored by the famous Pipe Major William Ross.
‘He was also a first-class exponent of the jaws’-harp and made many records which are still requested on radio.
‘Pipe Major Lawrie often appeared on television playing his harp, and gave actor James Mason harp lessons while Mr Mason was filming ‘A Touch of Larceny’ in the Oban area some years ago.
‘In 1925 Pipe Major Lawrie married Miss Catherine Morrison, Lochboisdale, South Uist, who survives him. He is also survived by his daughter Morag, Mrs Frederick Tindall, who lives in Oban, and by a son Ronald, who is well known as the pipe major of Glasgow Police Pipe Band.
‘The funeral takes place today (Thursday) from St Columba’s Cathedral, to Pennyfuir Cemetery.’
Here is the tune Old Toastie played as part of a medley by the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Tank Regiment: https://youtu.be/nsaANa2wiJw?feature=shared
A number of recordings of Angus on the jaw, or jew’s, harp were made for the School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh University, in the 1950s.
Angus’s obvious musical ability comes through in this recording of Lochaber Gathering, Tulloch Gorm and the Wee Man from Glengarry: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/6275?l=en
