The appearance of a band of pipes and drums usually signals an event with a distinctly Scottish flavour.
It’s perhaps best encapsulated in the annual Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo held each August and broadcast to a tv audience of millions.
However, the North East of England has long had a soft spot for bagpipes.
It’s part of the region’s culture as demonstrated by their continuing appearance at summer carnivals, fêtes and agricultural shows.
In his highly enjoyable new book Howay The Lads! A People’s History of Newcastle United, Dan Jackson highlights the role played by one such pipe band in celebrations marking the Magpies landmark FA Cup win in 1910.
Following a replay at the neutral venue of Goodison Park on Merseyside, the triumphant team made their way back to Newcastle via Carlisle and several towns along Hadrian’s Wall.
At Newcastle Central Station, thousands of jubilant fans gathered to welcome home their heroes after the 2-0 win over Barnsley that included the first FA Cup Final penalty.
Jackson describes how “a fan dressed as the ‘Cock ‘o the North’ followed by the Tyneside Veterans’ Highland Pipe Band” led a victory parade through the city’s streets featuring eight horse-drawn ‘Landaus’ and a black-and-white tram car.
Given the excitement generated by the club’s first FA Cup win, the sound of the pipes and drums must have added a further dimension to an already stirring and colourful spectacle.
Evidence of what such a band looked like comes in this postcard portrait from the same era of another group of North East bagpipers.
Press reports reveal that the Northumberland Veterans (Highland Bagpipe) Band regularly featured in stage shows as well as outdoor events across the region.
Splendidly turned out, the band’s line-up was immortalised by a photographer from Scotland.
Born in Dundee, A.B. (Alexander Brimner) Gardiner (1860-1924) opened a studio in his home town in his early twenties.
A decade later, he was operating from premises in the heart of late-Victorian Newcastle where his portraits were in great demand.
Previous incumbents of 14 Grey Street included ‘The Misses Carrick’ whose tenure during the late-1860s and 1870s was the subject of a recent Pressphotoman post.
‘The Misses Carrick’ blogpost – 21st September 2026
By the time Newcastle United returned to the city with the FA Cup in 1910, Gardiner was a leading member of the Newcastle & Northern Counties Photographic Association.
He also presented lectures at photographic societies throughout the region offering advice to the growing army of amateurs taking up photography.
Whether the Scottish-born photographer played the bagpipes himself is not known.
This weekend’s first round proper of the 2026/2027 FA Cup signals another chapter in the history of this illustrious competition.
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