One of the great characters of the Irish Pipe Band scene is P.J. Berrill .
For almost two generations , he has been a familiar sight at contests in Ireland (North and South ) and in Scotland .
He has served in almost every capacity on the National Executive Council of the IPBA and for the past thirty seven years he has acted as Secretary of the Joint Advisory Committe , the IPBA - RSPBA(Northern Ireland) Body which organises the All Ireland Pipe Band Championships and the All Ireland Solos .
P.J. learnt his piping from his father who came originally from Northern Ireland .
His father had fought with the Irish Brigade in France during the 1914-18 War .
On returning from the War , his father formed a pipe band in 1918 in Greenanstown , Co. Meath .
P.J. was born in 1919 and spent his early childhood in Dundalk , Co. Louth. He later moved to Drogheda where he attended the St. Marys School in Drogheda and later Drogheda Grammar School .
He has early memories of his father playing his pipes at the back of the house .
It was his fathers habit to don his kilt when piping and he would march back and forward across the garden playing his favourite tunes such as The 79ths Farewell to Gibralter and The Barren Rocks of Aden .
P.J. also has memories of his mother carrying his fathers pipes while his father carried P.J. on his shoulders along the banks of the Boyne River .
P.J. began his own piping career in 1937 .
He played with the Owen Rua O Neill Pipe Band in Drogheda .
After moving to Dublin in 1945 , he played with the Harolds Cross Pipe Band , and the Laurence O Toole Pipe Band .
He improved his piping skills under E. McEvoy of the Black Raven Pipe Band and Tim Keogh of the Fintan Lalor Pipe Band .
In the 1950s P.J. became involved with the IPBA as an honorary auditor .
In 1958 he held the post of Assistant Secretary and served as Secretary of the IPBA between 1959 and 1982 .
He retired as Secretary in 1982 but continued his involvement with the IPBA acting as compiler at All Ireland and other contests .
He still holds the post of Secretary of the J.A.C. and is an honorary Vice -President of the Leinster Branch IPBA .
P.J. is a great conversationalist and has much information on the early piping scene in Ireland .
P.J. still has the odd blow on his pipes and long may he continue to do so

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