The City of Edinburgh Pipe Band is pleased to announce a new sponsorship deal, with a trade union which represents over 12,000 members across the range of health professions.

The City of Edinburgh Pipe Band competes in Grade 2 and is the senior band in the capital. The band was formed in 1947 in the Midlothian mining village of Danderhall. The band’s Pipe Major is David Clunie who is a former Pipe Major of Clan Gregor Society, Tayside Police and Denny and Dunipace Gleneagles.

The sponsorship agreement, which will run for three years, is with Unison Lothian Health Branch.  Welcoming the sponsorship, the band’s Pipe Major, David Clunie, said: “The cost of living crisis is affecting pipe bands as well as our wider society.  So we very much welcome Unison’s generous support, which will help with the running costs – instruments, transport, uniforms – of our growing organisation.”

Everyone needs the support of the National Health Service at some point in their lives, so we are delighted to be associated with an organisation that looks after the interests of the people who look after us.”

Unison Lothian Health Branch also sponsored the band’s popular Pipe Major’s Wheel of Fortune competition, which was won last week by Cameron Drummond of Edinburgh. 

Drummond was presented with The Tam Waterson Cup, which was named in memory of a senior figure in Unison who represented the organisation at local, Scottish and UK levels.  Waterson began his career as a kitchen porter in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Unison Lothian Health Branch Secretary, Tracy Anne Miller, said: “Our Branch is proud to sponsor the City of Edinburgh Pipe Band.  The band, like many, was formed in a mining village in the Lothians and it is still very much part of that community.

“The trade union movement started in those same communities and many members of our Branch live and work there.  The fact that the band members are all fantastic musicians is a massive bonus and we are honoured to be part of their journey.”

The band will lead Branch members in the Edinburgh and Lothians May Day March on Saturday 6 May.  The parade leaves the city’s Johnston Terrace at 1200.

•Craig Guyer of The City of Edinburgh Pipe Band