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History of the House of Scotland
The Campbells' passing in the late 1960's seemed to leave a void. Burgeoning San Diego was an appreciative audience for pipe bands. The Shriners had a pipe band, and some Cameron pipers like James Naismith, who had emigrated to the U.S. from Canada years earlier with his wife Irene and son Campbell, chose to join them. Some of the former Campbells also joined the band. Jim Naismith had been recruited by the Cameron Clan soon after he moved to San Diego. Formerly in the Boy's Brigade in his native Scotland, he hadn't played the pipes in years, but soon he was good enough for the band. His son Campbell eventually became a very accomplished piper under the tutelage of John Rosenberger.
In 1964, a Scottish emigre by the name of Alex Henderson seized the opportunity to start, under the auspices of the House of Scotland, and with the help of Campbell Naismith, who acted as Pipe Major, the House of Scotland Junior Pipe Band. It was a band strictly for teens. Alex is well known nowadays as the owner and operator of the Scottish Meat Pie Company, and can be seen with his crew serving his pie dinners to games-goers, and entertaining his friends, from his big red double-decker bus at highland games all over California.
The House of Scotland Junior Pipe Band flourished from 1964 to 1971. Alex managed the band with great fortitude, constantly raising money for uniforms and equipment for the young pipers. The plaid chosen for the bands uniforms was the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan. John Haywood organized and directed the piping and was the instructor for the majority of pipers. The Pipe Sergeant was Christine Woodward, and the Drum Sergeant was George MacMillan. Some of the pipers were John Morton, Alistair Henderson, Dennis Mikolich and Bruce Kleege. Drummers were Bill and Bart Meachum and Mark Weaver, with David Ramsay on the bass drum. Dancers Sheila Naismith and Nevin Kleege performed with the band. Their first public engagement was an exhibition at a "Cèilidh" at College Grove Shopping Center in 1966, where they were awarded a silver cup. The first official competition in which they participated was the Santa Monica Scottish Highland Games on June 25th, 1966. They won 1st Prize in the junior band competition with their winning march, "The Siege of Delhi."
In the first few years, the band was constantly scheduling fund-raising performances with their dancers, and a great many public engagements. They performed at the opening of the Ocean Beach Pier and for the San Diego Junior Theater production of "The Witch's Lullaby." Disneyland appearances, parades, weddings and various international events were typical performances, as well as the annual House of Scotland lawn program.
In 1967, several Junior House of Scotland Band members and San Diego Scottish Highland dancers appeared in a pictorial article of the Los Angeles Scottish Games at which they had performed. This, in itself, would have been fine, but the magazine in which it appeared was a racy nudist "girlie" magazine. Apparently, no one had known about the article until the magazine was published. (Also, understandably, no member of the House of Scotland ever admitted to being the first person to read the magazine and discover the article.)