Closkelt today announces the appointment of Brendan Megoran as its Leading Drummer.
For the previous two competitive seasons, Closkelt’s drum corps was lead by Alastair Hopper in Grade 2, and following promotion to Grade 1 in late 2019, the band appointed Gary Corkin in June 2020. However due to the CoViD pandemic, the band was unable to compete in 2020 or 2021.
Brendan Megoran joins Closkelt following the last seven years as leading drummer for Grade 1 band: Pipes & Drums of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). During his time with PSNI, Brendan won the Grade 2 drumming titles at the World and Scottish Championships.
As a senior solo player for 30 years, winning numerous prizes at the All Ireland, Ulster and Worlds level, Brendan started at the age of 8 in the Frank Rainey Memorial Pipe Band where he was taught by Joe Cranston and Fred Noade. Brendan joined Ballycoan Pipe Band in the early 1990s and played under Mark Armstrong winning numerous prizes including the Grade 2 All Ireland Drumming title. Towards the end of the decade, Brendan moved to Pipes & Drums of The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the corps went on to win every drumming title including the Worlds Drumming in 2000.
Brendan returned to Ballycoan in 2002 where they band won the grand slam in Grade 2 and was promoted to Grade 1, where the drum corps continued to achieve numerous top 6 drumming placings. In 2009 the corps finished 5th in the champion of champions, 3rd at the European Championships. The drum corps also retained the Northern Ireland Champion of Champions title for eight consecutive years.
Upon his appointment last week, Brendan said "I am delighted to join the ranks of Closkelt and I will relish the challenge of producing a top class drum corps to go with this top class pipe corps. It's a fresh challenge for me which has probably come just at the right time. I'm very excited for our new journey and one which I'm really looking forward to.
Closkelt Pipe Major David Chesney said "After a long lay off due to Covid, it is a positive step in building the band for the future as we make our debut in Grade 1. I am very pleased to welcome Brendan and his corps to the band and I look forward to working with him".
Closkelt Pipe Band was established in 1938 and since Pipe Major David Chesney took over at the band in 2010 the band has achieved promotion from Grade 4b to Grade 1 in Autum 2019. During its time in Grade 2, the band achieved two successive Champion of Champion titles (2018, 2019), as well as two British Championships (2018, 2019), UK Championships (2019), Scottish Championships (2019) titles, finishing 2019 season as runner up at the World Championships.
for media enquiries, please contact Erinn McIlwaine at closkeltpb@gmail.com
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