Braw drummer boy

Humdrum or in the doldrums wouldn’t be the best description for Francis Overend’s long beat with the Motueka Highland Pipe Band.

While his heritage is Dutch not Scottish, his sporadic years with the band since 1953 have been braw, banding together, not marching to the beat of his own drum.

The retired barber tapped into his yearning to play the drums with the band as a 16-year-old in 1953, practising at the former National Tobacco Factory Sheds which were located where the Decks Reserve Carpark sits today.

“After about 18 months, I had the first parade with the band in High St, and we paraded in grey slacks, grey trousers, a white shirt and tartan ties,” he recalls.

“We used to practice two hours on a Monday night at the band rooms, but through the week, I would probably spend an hour at night practising just on a piece of board with sticks.

“In those days, when we were learning, there was no music to read from, and all of our tunes had to be memorised, and I can still memorise the beats for the tunes that I used to play,” he declares.

Francis says his band highlights include the camaraderie and performing The Hundred Pipers, Scotland the Brave, The Road to the Isles and Swing of the Kilt on the side drum.

In later years, the bass drum at events in Nelson Tasman and the West Coast and playing at local rest homes are what he’s enjoyed.

“I think everybody enjoys it because you turn out as a band and everybody comes to listen,” he says.

“We used to compete at contest level, but there were no cups or anything given.”
Francis says the band had also provided the soundtrack to the marching band his wife of 61 years, Claire, had led.

While he’ll stick around as an active band member “as long as I can walk”, knee and hip replacements in recent years have silenced his rhythm.

“I found trouble carrying the big bass drum so I had to give it up, but I still like to turn up when [the band is] playing at street marches or A&P shows to support them,” he says.

“There are nine members at most in the band, and we want to build it up as much as we can.

“I think it’s a good thing for boys and girls. It mixes you with the older people, and also you meet a lot of people that become long-time friends.”

Francis received a life membership award at a gathering on Monday, 7 April.