News & Events

The FDNY Pipes and Drums is proud to annouce that we have 2 new pipers and 2 new drummers to add to our roster. Timmy Maguire of Ladder 119 in Brooklyn joins us as a Bass Drummer. Timmy has been playing the drums since his Freshman year at Iona college, where he also played the Bass. There is a rumor that he was at one point a Piper...................

James Dowdell of Ladder 174 in Brooklyn joins us as a Side Drummer, he has been playing the drums for many years and also attended Iona College where he played in their pipe band. James is no stranger to our band as after 9-11-01 he filled in many times playing the drums while our band was stretched thin. His father Kevin of Rescue 4 perished on 9-11.

David Ritchie of Ladder 27 in the Bronx has been playing the Bagpipes for 6 years and studies under the tutelage of John Bradley who is the FDNY's interim instructor. Dave was playing briefly with the DCFD Pipes and Drums in Washington, DC.

Kevin O'Conner of Engine 37 in Harlem has been a piper since the tender age of 11. He was a solo competitor in Grade 2 as a teenager and brings a great deal of talent to the band. He attended Iona as well, and was in their pipe band along side Maguire and Dowdell.

Timmy and Kevin are active members of the bands grade 4 competition unit. There is speculation that Dowdell may be coming on board to play tenor drum for the competition band as well. Again congratulations to these 4 fine men, we wish them all the best.  

The FDNY Pipes and Drums grade 4 competition unit took 3rd place at the Bonnie Brae Scottish games on Saturday June 7th. The weather was extreme as it was in the area of 97 degrees but the band went out and put on a great show in spite of this. Feel free to view our performance by clicking here FDNY Pipes and Drums Grade 4 Band

This past weekend the members of the FDNY Pipes and Drums really stepped it up, doing 4 different events, 3 of them being at the same time on Saturday Morning. The Pipe Band handled the Special Olympics in Riverside Park, the funeral for Fireman Sean McCarthy of E280 in Bellmore, LI and the Funeral of Theresa McEnroe, wife and Mother of 3 of our band members in East Islip, LI. Then on Sunday the band was at it again bringing out the FDNY football team at Hofstra University, who went ahead to beat the NYPD team. A very busy weekend for the members of the band, but as usual all was handled without even a glitch!

The FDNY Pipes and Drums is happy to announce that we have resurrected the 1982 vinyl album. It is now digitized and available on I-Tunes. This was the first album that the FDNY Pipes and Drums released and we are excited that we could bring it out of the vault for your listening pleasure. It is available in our store on the website or by clicking here: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=274828104&s=143441

The Pipe band will be playing at this brothers funeral. The info is listed below. Sean contracted cancer after working at the WTC Site, he was only 35 years old.

 Wake:

Thursday & Friday 2pm - 4pm , 7pm - 9:30pm

Bartholomew Funeral Home 

302 South Bedford Ave 

Bellmore, NY 11710

Funeral:

Saturday May 31, 10 AM
St Barnabas the Apostle Church
2320 S. Bedford Avenue
Bellmore NY 11710

The run benefits the FDNY Fire Family Transport Foundation and the Wounded Warriors.
More details here.

Join us for the “March
Never Ends”

FDNY PIPES &
DRUMS BENEFIT

Featuring Shilelagh Law
McFadden’s Restaurant & Bar
800 2nd Ave (Between E 42nd St and
E 43rd)
Manhattan, NY 10017
www.mcfaddens42.com

www.fdnypipesanddrums.com

www.halfthebottle.com

Come out and join the
FDNY Pipes and Drums at this Post-St. Patrick's Day celebration. Monies raised
will help keep the band going.

$45 gets you an open bar
from 8-11pm. There will be
performances by members of the Pipes and Drums and Shilelagh Law starts playing at 9pm ending at 12am. Come out and support
NY's Bravest!

Well as always the FDNY Pipe Band was well prepared for the day we all wait for every year. This year proved to be exceptionally busy for the band but we stepped up to the challenge and got it done. It actually started Sunday night when we sent 5 members to Washington DC to perform for the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Ireland. On Monday morning while the rest of the band was getting ready in NY these members, Pipe Sergeant Joe Duggan, Piper Kevin O'Hagan, Piper Brian Meagher and Drummers Jerry Murtha and Hugh Duffy were playing at the White House to kick off their St. Patrick's Day festivities. Click here to see the press release from the White House, if you click the video link on the page you can see our members play!! 

Meanwhile back in NY, we had to cover some other events. We had members play on Good Morning America, CNN, and we sent 6 members to play at a breakfast held by the Brooklyn DA, Charles Hynes. After all these events we over the band formed up at 47th street and 5th Ave to get ready for the march. The weather was cold and windy but the Pipers and Drummers looked and sounded great. We had a reception afterwards for our friends and families, where we honored our newest members of the band. Overall, despite the many events that we handled everything went as smooth as you could hope for. Thanks for all those who came out to support the FDNY Pipes and Drums. Pictures will be posted as soon as they are available.