Tom Brown was born in Whitburn, West Lothian, Scotland in 1940.
He was given his first pair of Drum Sticks and introduced to the Art of Drumming at the age of nine by an Uncle, a drummer with a local Pipe Band.

He got his first Pipe Band Drumming lessons from Jack MacLeish of the Whitrigg Colliery Pipe Band.

He eventually took over as Leading Drummer at about the same time as they changed their name to Polkemmet Colliery Pipe Band under the Leadership of Pipe Major Johnny Barnes.

Other names of note to emerge from that band were
PM. Robert Mathieson, Jim Kilpatrick, David Barnes (Johnny’s son), to name but a few.

In 1969/70, through a chance meeting with the famous Alex Duthart, he joined up with Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band Drum Corps under the leadership of the “Great Man” himself. Tom played under Big Alex and along side other famous names such as Jim Hutton, Bert Barr, Billy Stevenson and Ronnie Annan for the next six years where they won every Band and Drumming Championship on numerous occasions. Tom still credits Alex for making him the drummer he is today.

During those early seventies, Tom set up his famous “Tuesday Night” Drumming class. One famous name to emerge from that class was his Nephew, Jim Kilpatrick, who eventually ended up at Shotts with Tom.

In 1974/75, he was asked by Pipe Major Robert Martin to supply drummers and help out at the then Grade 4 Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band. In 1976/77, he again supplied drummers for their new Novice Juvenile Band. One of those young drummers being his son, Gordon. Other drummers to go into the Novice Corps that year were Neil Cranston and Tom Egerton. The young Novice Corps went on to win every Major Drumming Championship and Competition they entered into during 1977, including Grade 4 Competitions.

Tom had a year out of playing with Shotts in 1977 and it was at that time that Pipe Major Robert Martin asked him to take over the Boghall Corps. Half the Novice Corps, including his son, Gordon, were ready to go into the corps at the time and Tom took over as Leading Drummer in 1978 when the band were upgraded to Grade 2.
This was to go on to become quite a famous friendship and partnership with Robert Martin.

The Band and the Corps went on to win just about every Major Championship and Competition they entered into over the next two seasons in Grade Two.

It was around this time that Tom’s daughter, Sandra, started her first Drumming lessons with Tom. Sandra steadily moved up through the ranks of the highly successful Novice and Juvenile Corps and joined the Grade 1 Corps in 1983.

In 1980, the band was upgraded to Grade 1 and that first season saw the Drum Corps lift the “Cowal Championship” Trophy. They were also fifth as a band that day.

The following season (1981) saw them lift the “World Pipe Band Drumming Championship” in Hazelhead Park, Aberdeen. It is interesting to note that the average age of the Corps at that time was only 14/15 years old. This was the first of a fine hat trick of World Drumming championships, a task not easily done at that time. During the eighties, the Corps went on to lift every Major Drumming prize and was the first Corps to win the “Alex Duthart Memorial Trophy” for Champion of Champion Drum Corps.

In 1991, Tom decided to retire from the Grade 1 Band to spend more time with the Novice, Juvenile and Grade 3 Corps (Boghall had introduced a fourth band). His son, Gordon, took over as Leading Drummer of the Grade 1 Corps. A year later, when the then Grade 3 Band were promoted to Grade 2, Tom again was convinced to take over as Leading Drummer. This he did and the History books were written again. Over the next eight years, Tom and the Grade 2 Drum Corps went on to win every Major Drumming award including three Grade 2 World Drumming awards. It also established another chain in the Famous “Boghall” feeder system and to this day, all the drummers pass through the Grade 2 Corps en-route to the Grade 1 Corps. It is interesting to note that all the drummers in the present Grade 1 Corps have passed through the “Boghall” feeder system.

To date, Tom has won just about every Drumming award in every grade. Not just with the Boghall organisation, but with other corps he has coached. He has also taught more World Solo Drumming Champions than anyone, including two Adult winners.

Tom decided to retire from the playing side of things a few years ago but is still as strongly involved as ever with the Boghall drumming school and also other local Bands. He is still travelling the World passing on his knowledge to various individuals and organisations.