CALIFORNIA Gully\u2019s Helen Ann Dilks has been honoured on King\u2019s Birthday for her service to music with pipe bands with a Medal of the Order of Australia.<\/p>\n
A long-time member of the Golden City Pipe Band, Ms Dilks said the bagpipes were in her blood after getting her first taste of them early in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was a piper,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was a piper before I was a twinkle in his eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe used to tell the story that the day mother brought me home from the hospital when I was born he wrapped me in a blanket, put me in the middle of the kitchen table and played pipes to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Dilks has been a member of the Golden City Pipe Band since 1959, was then made a life member, and has been the Pipe Major twice, first in the early 1990s and again now since 2013.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s her work with the Golden City Pipe Band that has led to the accolade, one Ms Dilks said she is honoured to receive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s extremely overwhelming,\u201d she said. \u201cI do what I do because I love it and I don’t expect any more out of it other than the bands and the people I’m teaching to achieve and get to their highest ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, obviously people see things a lot deeper than what I do. It’s just an everyday life for me, and I just roll on from day to day.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a storied life of playing the bagpipes for Ms Dilks and there\u2019s been several highlights.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve had some wonderful overseas experiences,\u201d she said. \u201cI have played with a band in Newcastle in England at the World Championships, and I\u2019ve done Celtic festivals in Britain, France, and Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet before she hangs up the instrument, there is one thing Ms Dilks said she wants to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m still waiting for the elusive Australian Championship,\u201d she said. \u201cI have gone close, gone second on a few occasions I just want to go that extra step and we will get there one day hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CALIFORNIA Gully\u2019s Helen Ann Dilks has been honoured on King\u2019s Birthday for her service to music with pipe bands with a Medal of the Order of Australia. A long-time member of the Golden City Pipe Band, Ms Dilks said the bagpipes were in her blood after getting her first taste of them early in life. […]<\/p>\n