Our story 10 years on; Part 4
In this final part of Burgess bagpipes 10 years on. I look at Promotion, Pandemic and the future. We, had designed our pipes, refined them with prototype cycles. Established and made our manufacturing capability. We were ready to go! It was a bit of a slow start. But we were building a reputation by doing something different. I kept saying to myself never mind what anyone else is doing. We just need to keep doing what we do.
During the past 10 years we have met some amazing people, many at different promotional events: trips to America, Ireland, Highland games, Festivals, Celtic Connections, Piping live, the Northern meetings and many others. Our big maroon tent soon became a landmark for anyone wanting to try playing, bellows pipes wherever it was seen. We steadily built our reputation and brand. Making improvements to our instruments wherever we could.
Out of the blue in 2018 we were approached by the National Trust for Scotland. We had an ancestor who fought at the battle of Culloden. We forged a 3-year partnership to promote Highland tradition through pipe music. We were encouraged to open a Highland bagpipe centre and were actively working towards that. I will return to this topic in a future blog.
We followed in the path of traditional pipe making families who had the skills to make a whole range of things like furniture, other instruments, and bespoke items. We started branching out into manufacturing other items. Using our skills and gear we started to make bespoke items from wood, metal and leather.
Then everything came to a stop. With the Covid lockdowns everything ground to a halt. If I had had a crystal ball prior to the lockdown. I would have made twenty sets of Smallpipes and I could have sold them all a few times over.
As the pandemic dragged on. We had to reduce our operation as work dried up. But if we hadn’t diversified, then the pandemic would have put us out of business. It was difficult but we worked at it and survived. Everything changed and the world would never be the same. Now like everyone else we have adapted to the new normal. Here we are, 10 years on, it’s now time for the next generation to take over and drive this thing forward. There are lots of ideas, innovations, doing things differently and we will continue doing what we do.
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