When Prince George brothers Ian and Hugh McInnis were eight and seven years old, respectively, they stood with their father, John to watch a Rotary parade pass by.
"Did you like that," John asked his sons.
"We said yes and that was it," said Ian who, with Hugh, has been playing the bag pipes for 50 years ever since.
"Our dad knew very well a junior pipe band was about to start and it was close to where we lived, and close to his Cape Breton heart, so that's how it all began."
The little group soon grew and became known as the McInnis family with Ian and Hugh on pipes, late younger brother Alex as the little drummer boy, and sisters Bonnie and Jane doing the highland dancing.
"We performed sometimes as a family and entered a few talent shows. We never won first prize, but we did pretty good," said Ian.
Like most people, the first time he heard the sound of the skirling bag pipes, shivers ran down his spine.
"I still like it," said Ian who's a long-time member of the Legion Pipe Band.
"As an organization, it seems like we hit peaks and valleys, but I think right now we're on the way to a peak."
"Even though there are times when we have problems fielding a full band, Remembrance Day brings everyone out to play."
It was at that early Kiwanis junior pipe band that Ian and Hugh met Barry Selkirk, who was nine at he time, and has played the pipes alongside them since 1959.
"We've seen a lot of band members come and go, but in the end it's just the three of us who remain," said Selkirk, whose mother, Jo, is a veteran of the Second World War.
"I just like the music. At first I played because it was just something I wanted to do," said Selkirk.
"But then the Glabus family moved here from Vancouver where they were involved in a piping school.
"Jim was a championship drummer and Murray and Scott were excellent pipers. Murray started giving us lessons at the Centre City Motel on Saturdays. He took us to a higher level. Later on a piper instructor, Angus Graham, moved here from Edinburgh and he took us to an even higher level."
Hugh admitted it's hard for young fellows to keep up the playing and the practice.
"I gave up the pipes for a while in my teens, but at age 18, after losing my dad, I picked them up again."
"Now I've been doing it for so long, it's just part of my life. You either like it, and it grows on you, or you hate it."
He said it doesn't require as much practice now.
"As long as we're up on tunes like Amazing Grace and Scotland the Brave, we're OK."
And when they are asked the age-old question of what they are wearing under the kilt, Barry said they simply reply, "Our shoes."
The three bag pipers will be performing with the pipe band on Remembrance Day at the Civic Centre and in the annual veterans parade from the services to the cenotaph and back to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 43.
People attending the service, which is usually a full-house, are requested to be seated by 9 a.m. The service at 9:30 a.m. will be followed by a parade at 10:35 a.m. to the new Cenotaph in front of city hall for the 11 a.m. ceremony.
An event at the Legion following the services will include live bands, dancing, old time singing, food and beverages, and free shuttle service within city limits.
