Here's a message received from Glen Allen

Hello from Victoria

I cannot express what an absolute thrill and honour it was to be present at this past weekend’s activities, and I wanted to send this brief note of thanks to all those who had a role in organizing this spectacular event.  The memories shared, the old friendships rekindled, and of course the opportunity to sit with Mr. Fraser and just be in his presence once again – these are memories that will be with me forever.  Perhaps most importantly of all, I consider this weekend to be the “point of no return” in terms of my formal return to the piping community after far too long an absence.  And yes, there are far too many witnesses to this vow (including Mr. Fraser) for me to avoid making this happen…

I shared the same flight to Vancouver with Myles Wilcott last night, and thanked him for his words on Saturday evening.  Like him, I cannot imagine a more positive learning experience than that which has been gained by each and every individual – band members, parents and instructors alike – who has been associated with the LSBSPB organization.  I am sorry that I did not get an opportunity to personally thank each of you prior to my departure yesterday afternoon, and felt that I had to send this note to let you know what a truly special experience the last three days have been.  Please pass on my regards to any of the organizers who may have been missed in this e-mail. I look forward to the next reunion event, and to hopefully running into each of you again on the competition/parade circuit.

Here's one from Don Steele too.

Hello from Mississauga

From my standpoint, Glen's assessment of the weekend is spot on! The organizing committee did an absolutely spectacular job putting this together and, as one of the "middle" generation (i.e. those of us who were in the band around the time of the 25th anniversary -- well, maybe just a little before!), I just want to thank all of them for giving us the opportunity to renew some of the best friendships of our lives, and to play together once more after all these years. Like Glen, I have also realized that my pipes have sat in their case for far too long.

More than anything else, though, I want to thank them for giving us the opportunity to see and speak to Mr. Fraser again. For many, if not all of us, Mr. Fraser was like a second father at a time of our lives when we were trying to figure out what type of men we were going to become, and there is no better role model. Like so many things, though, one often does not fully realize the impact that a particular person has had on their life until they can look back from a distance, and consequently the opportunity to thank them properly, at the time, is missed. This weekend gave us all the opportunity to say "Thank you" to Mr. Fraser in the best possible way -- by showing him that we still remembered what he had taught us, both as musicians and as people. A very sincere thank you for that opportunity.

I will never forget this weekend.

Best regards to all,
Donald Steele
1927 Barsuda Drive
Mississauga, Ontario
L5J 1V3

p.s. To my other Scotland '81 contemporaries: 2011 may sound like a long way off, but I would have felt the same way about the year 2007 back in 1981 (which now feels like just yesterday), so we had better get to work!.