At a Home and School meeting held in 1966 at Rankin Memorial School, Iona, Father John MacLeod, the priest of St. Columba’s Parish, suggested that an effort be made to train pipers to compliment the Nova Scotia Highland Village, which was situated on a hillside overlooking the beautiful Bras D’Or Lakes at Iona, Victoria County. Thus, the Nova Scotia Highland Village Pipe Band was formed. Chanter classes were started by Rita MacDonald (Morrison) of the MacDougall Girls’ Pipe Band. Rita was a niece of Father MacLeod, and he had arranged for her to come and teach chanter as a summer job. She did this for two summers. Danny MacIntyre later recalled that the students in these chanter classes would gather under a tree in the schoolyard at recess and practice their music together.

As the chanter students progressed, there was talk of forming a pipe band under the auspices of the Royal Canadian Legion. A drumming class was started early in 1968 with Maurice Leon as the first instructor, followed by Sammy MacDougall, and later by Tom Finlayson. This Legion Band did not materialize, however, and the band which was subsequently formed came under the sponsorship of the Nova Scotia Highland Village. Ronnie Burke, formerly of the Cape Breton Highlanders Pipe Band took over the instruction of the pipers and before long; uniforms were ordered with the kilts in the Ancient Hunting MacNeil tartan, and with green tweed jackets that gave the band a very distinctive look when most other bands were opting for black. Instructor Ronnie Burke was later followed by Danny MacIntyre who stayed with the band through to about 1978 and then briefly by Robyn Sutherland, of New Glasgow.

By 1969, the fledgling pipers and drummers were practicing together and the Nova Scotia Highland Village Pipe Band was truly formed. It took part in different activities, parades, concerts, charity events, and Highland games throughout the province. A great deal of financial assistance was needed to dress the band and this was accomplished with a very generous donation of $5000.00 from Mr. Malcolm MacNeil, originally from Grand Narrows, but then living in the Boston area. The band chose the MacNeil tartan in honour of the MacNeils of Barra who were among the first Scottish settlers to come to the area. Later on, Mr. MacNeil donated more money, which enabled the band to purchase their own bus and this made it possible for them to travel to parades, concerts and competitions across the province. Piping instructor Danny MacIntyre composed a tune in honour of Malcolm MacNeil and, in accepting it, he said that he had assisted many groups in his lifetime but none had given him more joy than the Highland Village Pipe Band. Danny would, in later years, be called upon again to play at Mr. MacNeil’s funeral.

By 1973, some of the pipers and drummers in the band had reached the point where they could help with the instruction of younger players. One such instructor was Marian MacNeil who was teaching chanter classes from 1973 to 1978. Another member of the same family, Rosemary MacNeil, helped teach the drummers and took over the instruction of the band when Tom Finlayson left.

The band was an active competition unit, and it placed second in the Grade 4 Nova Scotia Championships in 1976. In 1978, two members of the band were among those selected to be part of an All-Canada Massed Pipe Band, which took part in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California. That year too, the band won the Fraser Holmes Memorial Trophy in New Glasgow, and in the fall the band made a recording that included a variety of Gaelic and English songs, and piano and fiddle selections as well as numbers by the pipes and drums. The album was recorded in the Parish Hall by Dave Miller of Inter-media Services Ltd. Scott Williams of Antigonish was brought in to help the pipers and to be technical advisor to Mr. Miller as he had participated in three recordings of pipe bands prior to the Iona group’s taping.

In 1979, Robyn Sutherland from New Glasgow, who had been a student for a number of years and latterly a teacher at the Gaelic College, took over as the band’s piping instructor. That year, the Nova Scotia Highland Village Pipe Band played for the Prime Minister of Canada, and took part in the very first Nova Scotia Tattoo held to open the International Gathering of the Clans. One of the young pipers was chosen to pipe the Queen Mother to her waiting plane upon her departure from the province following the tattoo. The band also took part in the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the Opening of the Canso Causeway. At the end of the competitive season, the Nova Scotia Pipers and Pipe Band Association named the band the Grade 4 Champions Supreme.

The Nova Scotia Highland Village Pipe Band participated in the 1980 Antigonish Highland Games Tattoo, its members singing as well as playing as a pipe band. In 1984, two of the members participated in the 100-member Massed Pipe Band assembled by Scott Williams, which performed for His Holiness, Pope John Paul II in Halifax.

The band members over the years included Brenda Bailey, Bill Beavers, Valerie Bruce, Cathy Bryden, Vernon Burke, Allana Campbell, Debbie Campbell, Rosalie Campbell, Don Chisholm Jr., Don Chisholm Sr., Tom Chisholm, Barbara Corbett, Stephen Flynn, Barbara Gillis, Carmel Gillis, Cathy Gillis, Richard Jankowski, Helen MacDonald, Quentin MacDonald, Donald MacInnis, Jamie MacInnis, Austin MacKenzie, Stanley MacKenzie, Aileen MacLean, Cassie MacLean, Charlene MacLean, Grace MacLean, Mary MacLean, Miriam MacLean, Sharlene MacLean, Theresa MacLean, Colette MacMillan, Sandra MacMillan, Anne MacMullin, Anne MacMullin, Judy MacMullin, Anne Marie MacNeil, Bernadette MacNeil, Bernice MacNeil, Cathy MacNeil, Debby MacNeil, Don E. MacNeil, Francis MacNeil, Glenda MacNeil, Heather MacNeil, Leonarda MacNeil, Lilly MacNeil, Lorne MacNeil, Louise MacNeil, Marian MacNeil, Meliton MacNeil, Michael MacNeil, Myrna MacNeil, Patty MacNeil, Paul K. MacNeil, Peter MacNeil, Ronald MacNeil, Rosemary MacNeil, Susan MacNeil, Theresa MacNeil, Timmy MacNeil, John Perry, Lloyd Poirier, Anne Marie Quinn, Alana Redden, Joel Redden, Barry Shears, George Shears, and Robyn Sutherland. Among the many very active parent volunteers who kept the band going throughout most of its brief history should be included Helen MacNeil and Lucille MacNeil.

Although the band no longer exists, it left a residue that still plays an important part in the piping and pipe band world in Nova Scotia. Altogether, some sixty young pipers and drummers played in the band, with an average of fifteen at a time, and the people in the Iona area have very fond memories of the band and of the enjoyment they received from its many performances. A number of the players went on to other bands, and to make recordings of traditional Cape Breton style bagpipe music. This style of music has caught the piping world’s attention and Cape Breton pipers have travelled to Scotland, Japan and many parts of North America to display their own particular style of playing.