Piping Pink pipe band concert in Palmerston North aids breast cancer research

Piping Pink performing in Christchurch in 2019. Photo / Supplied

Feilding's Sheran Hancock is drawing on her pipe band heritage and talent to raise money for breast cancer research.

She has put together Piping Pink - female drummers and pipers from Christchurch, Rotorua, Wellington and Palmerston North who will perform in Palmy on July 18.

Hancock first assembled a Piping Pink team in 2019 and they played in Christchurch.

Her friend Mike Sander, who lives in Wellington, had been to the UK and met the people who established Boobs and Brass. Boobs and Brass raises money to fight breast cancer.

In 2018, Sander set up the all-women Bras and Brass with the same fundraising and awareness goals. Hancock went to their first concert and came away thinking the concept could be done in the pipe band world.

So she assembled Piping Pink and in 2019 they did a concert with legendary country singer Suzanne Prentice and Bras and Brass in Christchurch.

Hancock says the standing ovation at the end of that concert brought Prentice to tears as she said such a sign of appreciation was rare.

The July 18 concert won't have brass, just pipes and drums playing traditional and non-traditional music.

Piping Pink soloist Becky Weir is a regular visitor to Palmerston North. She's pictured playing in Christchurch in 2019. Photo / Supplied

Christchurch drummer Becky Weir will do a solo. She is the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands Association solo drumming champion and has been drumming for 11 years. Weir's grandfather, Doug Corkill, now in his 90s, lives in Palmerston North. Corkill has been in pipe bands for years and used to be a tenor/bass drummer.

Weir is completing a geography degree at the University of Canterbury and has played with the Hawthorn Pipe Band from Melbourne. Her sister, Ali, is also in Piping Pink.

Hancock has friends who have had breast cancer, some of them more than once.

Joining Piping Pink will be Manawatū band Rakes o the Gael, Thistle Highland Dancers and
Manawatū Scottish Country Dancing.

Hancock grew up in Feilding and her mother, Gail Cotton, and father, Ray Cotton, played in a pipe band. She remembers being dragged around to practices and performances.

Hancock married drum major Jason Hancock and their son, Brogan, is a snare drummer.

In 2018, Hancock was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to pipe bands. She says a highlight of her long career was establishing the New Zealand Youth Pipe Band, which travelled to Canada, Australia and the United States. It never lost a competition.

She says Piping Pink is probably the only pipe band in the world set up to raise funds for breast cancer research and is looking forward to taking it to more communities around New Zealand.

Piping Pink is not only about supporting breast cancer research but promoting pipe band music and inspiring women to play. Pipe bands come from the military and are still a male-dominated activity.

Hancock plays the bagpipes and says they are a very emotional instrument that take people on a journey.

She is an itinerant music teacher at Palmerston North Boys' High School.

Giveaway
We have five double passes to give away. To enter the draw please email your first and last names, address and phone number to judith.lacy@nzme.co.nz. One email per person please and put Pink in the subject line. Entries close at 8pm on Wednesday, July 14.

The Details
What: Piping Pink
When: Sunday, July 18, 2pm
Where: Speirs Centre
Tickets: iticket.co.nz or at the door. Adults $20, school-age children free