The Ontario massed pipes and drums band will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands by playing in their Remembrance Day parade.
Erin June, a snare drummer with the Legion's Chatham Branch 642 Pipes and Drums, said 11 members of the local band will be part of the massive amalgamated band. That includes six bagpipers, three snare drummers, and two tenor drummers.
"We're going to be 100 strong, travelling across the pond," she shared with CK News Today.
June will be one of the drummers going on the trip, adding that for her it will be a family affair.
"My oldest daughter is going as a bagpiper. And my youngest daughter, she's 11, she's one of our parade trainees, is also going."
The band will play at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery on May 4 the Dutch Remembrance Day and on May 5 in the Wageningen Liberation Day Parade.
"Wageningen is the site of Germany's surrender in 1945," she explained. "That's where people are going to be lining the streets."
June said that there's also a possibility that the band will play at the memorial at Vimy Ridge.
The history being celebrated hasn't escaped June, or the other members of the band, who are excited and grateful to be taking part in the ceremonies.
"I get to bring my 11-year-old daughter to these places she learns about in school," June shared adding that they'll be at Flander's Fields. "We know that the veterans themselves, there's not many left, a handful, they're in their hundreds... There aren't many left that were there, who saw it with their own eyes, so we have to remember for them. And what better way then to go and stand where they stood? And see what they saw? And see what's become of these places."
The cost to get the band there, with their instruments, will be one of the biggest challenges. The drums will need to be packed up and shipped as cargo, which costs about $1,100. Travel costs are roughly $2,000 per person.
Several fundraisers have been planned in an effort to send the Chatham-Kent contingent overseas.
The first, which happens Saturday, March 29, is the Tartan Tea Fundrasier at Mrs. Bell's Tea Room.
"Wanda has been amazing to work with," June said of the Tea Room's owner. "She's very generous and has opened her doors for us again."
There will be two seatings, one at 11 a.m. and another at 1:30 p.m. A portion of the admission price will go towards the band's travel costs.
The morning tea will include music from Pipe Major Walter Tomaszewski, the afternoon piper will be Miriam Ivison. Both seatings will include tea and customary finger sandwiches, scones, and cookies. In an effort to celebrate the band's trip to the Netherlands, Mrs. Bell will also be preparing some Dutch treats.
To make an online reservation, click here.
On April 5, a full dress rehearsal parade will take place in Chatham.
It may not be all 100 members, but June noted that it will be most of them and they'll all be in uniform.
"We'll be wearing all different colours... tunics, doublets, kilts, whatever your band wears. We're all going to be together wearing different [uniforms]," June said. "It's going to be beautiful."
The parade will start at 2:30 p.m. at the Legion in Chatham and end at the Sons of Kent Brewery. The parade will be accompanied by a BBQ hosted by the Legion which will going from 12 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The next day, April 6, the Knights of Columbus will hold a pancake brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Mary's Hall in Blenheim.
"We would like to thank everyone who has supported us so far," June added, making special mention of the Markelo committee who will be hosting the band members in their homes while they're overseas.