Bagpipes at 6am: Shropshire pipers to mark centenary - with video
The sound of bagpipes will ring out at dawn across the country on Remembrance Sunday.
Four members of the Shropshire Bagpipe Highland Society have chosen to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War in a particularly unique way.
At 6am they will play When the Battle’s O’er, by William Robb, at the time the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.
Hundreds of other pipers are expected to do the same across the country.
William Cochrane, from Shrewsbury, is travelling to Farmborough to play, but there will be pipers in Ellesmere, Church Stretton and Shrewsbury Quarry.
He said: “At least 2,000 pipers were killed during the Great War so this is a way for us to remember them and everyone who was killed.
“Pipers all over the county will be stood outside churches, cathedrals and cenotaphs at 6am and will play the tune for five minutes.”
William said he has thought about the reaction from residents who will be woken by the sound of bagpipes this weekend but hopes they will understand the poignancy.
“It is a wonderful song every piper learns during their career,” he said.
“When the Queen is at Buckingham Palace she is awoken by a piper playing outside her window. This Sunday some people will have the same experience.”
