Volunteers

Volunteers, Office Volunteers, and Volunteer Committee

The support of volunteers is invaluable to The College of Piping. Dedicated volunteers founded The College more than 16 years ago and have given much of their time, money and energy towards the vision of The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts in the many years since.

There are two groups of volunteers at The College: 

• Office, Amphitheater and Special Event Volunteers who help with administrative tasks, amphitheatre duties, Highland games and special events. 
• The Volunteer Commmittee is a group that is dedicated to pulling together the required resources in support of new initiatives and annual productions for The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada.

Each year at The College of Piping Christmas Recital, “The Volunteer of the Year Award” is presented. This award is sponsored by long-time College of Piping supporters, the Honourable Justice Benjamin B. Taylor and his wife, Marilyn.

The winner of The Volunteer of the Year Award must have made a contribution ”above and beyond” to The College in one or more events during the year. Lifetime contribution may only be considered to break ties. Contributions in performing arts, piping dancing, drumming, fiddling and singing are not counted. Not eligible are College of Piping Staff, Board President, Chairperson of the Summerside Highland Gathering or previous winners.

Office, Amphitheater, Highland Games and Special Event Volunteers

Volunteers are tremendously important to The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada. Without Volunteers who give their time selflessly, The College could not execute the many events it undertakes. Volunteers commit their support, energy and talents to a cause they believe in because they have family in our programs or because of their strong devotion to community.  WE THANK OUR VOLUNTEERS EVERY CHANCE WE GET.  THANKS!

Office duties - being an active non-profit organization, The College of Piping has more activities than full-time staff can execute. Therefore, The College often calls on volunteers to assist with the execution of such tasks as bulk mailings, photo copying, filing, running errands, etc.

Mary Ellen Amphitheatre - The success of the Summer Concert Productions is due, in no short measure, to the huge volunteer effort of The College of Piping Volunteer Committee. Volunteers work hard behind the scenes on a variety of tasks including costume and prop acquisition and creation, set design, pre-production set-up, stage hands on show nights, post production tear-down as well as ticket taking, ushering as well as providing food and beverage services. The successful execution of these and other tasks are critical to the overall success of the productions.

The Summerside Highland Gathering-Each year on the last full weekend in June, The College of Piping kicks off the summer tourism season with the Highland Gathering. Once again, the Volunteer Committee of The College of Piping plays a key role in the execution of this event. Volunteers are required for this event in a variety of different capacities including transportation, hospitality, ticket admissions, signage, parking, children’s events, beverage services, scrutineers, security, and sound and lighting set up and tear down.

Volunteers at this event get a whole weekend of fun for free when they volunteer for a 4-hour shift, but most people have just as much fun at their volunteer post!  It takes a 100 hard-working volunteers to run the Summerside Highland Gathering.  Come and pitch in and for being a volunteer you get free admission to the weekend's performances, a free T-shirt, 2 free tickets to "Highland Storm" and a whole lot of thanks from The College of Piping.

Give back to your community by giving some of your time, talent and energy and feel good about being a volunteer.  

Special Events -The College organizes a variety of special events from time to time such as press conferences, galas, open houses and Festivals in the Field. The College draws on members of the Volunteer Committee to assist in pulling together these special events.

Each year at The College of Piping Christmas Recital, “The Volunteer Of The Year Award” is presented. This award is sponsored by long-time College of Piping supporters, the Honourable Justice Benjamin B. Taylor and his wife Marilyn.

The winner of The Volunteer Of The Year Award must have made a contribution”above and beyond” to The College in one or more events during the year. Lifetime contribution may only be considered to break ties. Contributions in performing arts, piping dancing, drumming, fiddling and singing are not counted. Not eligible are College of Piping Staff, President of the Board, the Chairperson for the Highland Gathering or previous winners.

In photo: Back row, left to right: Graham MacKay, Fred Martin, Sinclair Walker, Greg Ferguson, Ken Target. Front row, left to right: Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Sobey, Kathryn Yule.

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Previous Winners of “The College of Piping Volunteer of the Year Award”

1994- John H. 'Scottie' Campbell
1995- Myron Taylor
1996- Josephine Ripley
1997- Ensor MacNevin
1998- Fred Martin
1999- Pat Robertson
2000- Scott Grady
2001- Blaine Sonier and Pat Gaudet
2002- Tina Mundy
2003- Paul Luce
2004- Cathy and Stephen Ashton
2005- Nick Maros
2006 - Karen Brockway
2007 - Sinclair Walker

Our volunteers give their time, talent and friendship for The College of Piping.  They are young and old and in-between people who give back to their community when they: help in the office, plant flowers, put up tents, paint and repair things, work the bar at the Highland Gathering, work the sound, do security, take tickets, mail letters, park cars, drive people, design sets, photocopy, set up lights, dress performers, act as stage hands, sew costumes, meet and greet, put up signs, rake leaves, plan, coordinate, give, befriend and lend a helping hand.  Well done. 

If you are interested in receiving a volunteer information package or have any questions, please call the Volunteer Hotline at 1-877-BAG-PIPE or 902-436-5377 or email us at info@collegeofpiping.com Thank-you!

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada.

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THE VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE

In the early days of The College of Piping, volunteers literally helped “raise the roof”and aided in fund raising to build The College. As The College of Piping grew, so did the breadth and scope of the volunteers who are dedicated to it.

Love of the Celtic arts, commitment to community and the desire to make new friends are just some of the reasons to become a Member of our Volunteer Committee.

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a member of the Volunteer Committee, please contact Patsy Martin at 1-877-BAG-PIPE or 902-436-5377 or email us at info@collegeofpiping.com

We could use some more help!  Come and make some new friends and give back to your community by joining our volunteers.  You will be glad you did because of the young people you are helping and the nice people you will meet. 

We want to give a special thanks to our hundreds of volunteers who help put on the Summerside Highland Gathering and Highland Storm.  Well done!

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