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Vin Grainger playing with the Band at the Forum Hall in Wythenshawe From the Fianna Phádraig collection.
With Terry's untimely death, it became urgent to find someone willing and able to step into what was clearly a very large pair of shoes.
Terry's nephew, Vin Grainger, an experienced piper and a fiddle player of some repute on the North-West traditional Irish music scene, rose to the challenge.
Within just a few months, Vin was faced with the daunting prospect of leading the Band to Ireland, to take part in the International Folk Dance Festival in Cobh, a task doubly challenging as, in addition to managing the Band on tour, he also had to deal with his own emotions during the many tributes paid to his late uncle in a town where Terry was held in high esteem. Vin accomplished his task masterfully, and the Band's final visit to the Cobh festival was a huge success.
As a young man with a career ahead of him and family life to look forward to, Vin's tenure as Pipe Major was necessarily a temporary one and, after several years of service, personal and professional obligations took him away from Wythenshawe, leaving him with no choice but to hand over responsibility for the Band to our current pipe major, Bill Lisgo.
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