Band founder’s lost pipes discovered 34 years on

The last bagpipes used by a legendary founder of Youghal Pipe Band have been discovered accidentally, 34 years after his death, by his great grandson and grand-nephew.

Danny “Duis” McCarthy died aged 87 in 1983. Nobody knew the bagpipes’ whereabouts until Aidan McCarthy, 22, found them in a wooden box while doing renovations at the band’s Cork Hill headquarters with his cousin Michael.

Aidan says the box had “unknowingly been stored away in a large old cupboard in the drummers’ room”. Some tassels and braiding suggested its ownership, which was confirmed by Danny’s name in fading letters on the bag.