Our Pipe Major Garry Fletcher celebrated 50 years of piping in March 2009. Garry has been heavily involved in tutoring pipers over these years. Until recently Garry was an accredited judge for the Australian Pipe Band Association, having first being appointed as the youngest piping judge way back in 1967. He has been pipe major of 4 pipe bands, all of which have won championships in Grade 2, 3 and 4. Garry has competed in numerous Australian pipe band championships and has played and led bands in Tattoos in Australia, United States, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Scotland.

Garry first joined the (Co)HHPB about 1978 as a tutor to help the Band prepare for the Hobart Searchlight Tattoo. He became Pipe Major in 1979 and remained with the Band until about 1993 before “retiring”. After a stint with the Tas Police from 1995 through to 2003 part of which he was also a tutor of Hobart Highland, he rejoined the band in 2004.

Among his memorable piping moments, Garry lists:

• Winning U21 Australian solo piping championship at the Gaelic festival in Melbourne in1965 and finishing second in open grade.
• Winning the Tasmanian Grade 3 Championship in my first year as pipe major in 1964
• Winning the Tasmanian Grade 3 Championships in 1986 & 1990 with virtually a new pipe corps. The Band went on to perform at the Australian Championships in Adelaide in 1986.
• Taking the Tasmania Police Pipe band to an International Military Tattoo in New Zealand in 2001 where it was the feature pipe band. After the tattoo display I was the guest of the Governor General at the Tattoo formal dinner.