The Ancre Somme Association Scotland Charity has launched a project to have a bronze bust of Piper Daniel Laidlaw VC ‘The Piper of Loos’ unveiled in his home village of Swinton, Berwickshire, writes Kevin McLean.
The planned date for the unveiling is 25th Sept this year. This marks the 110th anniversary of Daniel going over the top at the Battle of Loos in 1915.
We have gained the support of the Laidlaw family, in particular’s Daniel’s great-grandson Kevin Laidlaw (also a piper). Tommy Davidson (ASA Secretary) and I met Kevin and some of the Swinton & Ladykirk Community Council in the village recently to agree a site for the bust. Tommy petitioned locals to obtain their support and we now have their backing too.
The council has agreed to a memorial bench, flag poles, and landscaping around the bust. It will enhance the local area and the village. Local schoolchildren will be involved. We believe the project will leave a legacy for future generations.
We have applied for £20k of Heritage Funding to pay for the bust and plinth, however we still need to raise a further £6k to complete the project. We have set up a Facebook page and a crowd funding site which will hopefully get some traction over the coming weeks.
We have commissioned pin badges, pens etc all branded with ‘Piper Daniel Logan Laidlaw VC’ (above) and the sculptor Helen Runciman has started work on mini replicas of the bust. We will be visiting her studio soon.
I would be forever grateful if you could help us get the word out there to the piping and drumming community. I am currently looking at arranging a fund-raising recital and even starting a solo competition which will all come under the legacy part of the project.
Daniel Logan Laidlaw was born in Little Swinton in the Scottish Borders on 26th July 1875. On the outbreak of WW1 he joined the 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers. In September 1915 at the Battle of Loos Piper Laidlaw inspired his comrades by playing them ‘over the top’ and then, despite withering fire, playing continuously in no man’s land until he was wounded and could play no more.
Stretcher bearers brought him to safety and after months of recuperation he received his Victoria Cross ‘For Valour’ from King George V at Buckingham Palace in 1916. He died on June 2nd, 1950. He is buried at St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Norham, Northumberland.
