Meet the band

Angus Stewart Lowden (85), a retired meat inspector from Dundee, first picked up a trumpet while a pupil at Morgan Academy in the early 1950s. Fast forward 74 years and he was granted Honorary Membership of the Dundee Instrumental Band at the band's annual awards ceremony, and acknowledged for his dedication to music.

 

Angus, who studied food hygiene inspection at Kingsway Technical College, enjoyed a long career campaigning for improved standards in the inspection of animal husbandry, welfare and trade. In the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his role in protecting public health for over 30 years, and received his award from Charles, then Prince of Wales, at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Although retired, he continues to act as a Divisional Secretary for the Association of Meat Inspectors.

 

In his spare time, however, Angus - or Gus to his friends - has always turned to his other passion: music. At the Dundee Instrumental Band’s 2025 Awards Dinner, a slideshow of photographs recounted Angus’s life in music, starting from his earliest days competing at the Arbroath Music Festival as a short-trousered schoolboy, through to his many successes playing in a brass ensemble with his brothers Alastair and David, and his subsequent and long-lasting involvement with Dundee Instrumental (formerly St Margaret’s), a community charity ensemble based in Lochee, where he continues to play every week.

 

Music is clearly in the Lowden genes, as Angus and his brothers took up their brass instruments with encouragement from their father William Lowden, who ran the butcher shop in Strathmartine Road and was also a player for - and one-time President of - St Margarets.

 

Angus’s versatility as a musician has seen him play in small ensembles, traditional brass bands, orchestras and also in theatre pits. He reached the senior position of Principle Cornet in Dundee Instrumental Band - a seat he graciously gave up to allow younger players the chance to lead the band. Today, he plays in the back row of the cornet section, where he offers guidance and encouragement to fellow players. He also played cornet for the Forfar and Tayport Instrumental Bands, and his soaring trumpet could be heard in countless musicals throughout the Tayside area, including the amateur premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar and the Scottish premiere of Cole Porter’s High Society.

 

When he’s not rehearsing or giving concerts with the band, Angus is a keen athlete. Not only is he a competitive curler, he continues to ski, cycle, golf and play his weekly games of tennis with a group of fellow high-spirited seniors. 

 

Angus was joined at the awards ceremony by his wife Kate, with whom he has two daughters, Rona and Lorraine. Also present was grandson Rory, a pupil at Monifieth High School who, from the age of nine, has kept up the family tradition by playing cornet.

 

His other two grandsons Robin and Murray earlier this year took it upon themselves to raise £673 for the Dundee Instrumental Band charity with a sweetie-jar competition - an impressive effort recognised by the Bank of Scotland, who matched the first £500 of the donation, bringing the total to £1,173.

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Dundee Instrumental Band President Alwyn Bolton said:

 

“Angus has played such a key role in the story of music in the city. Yet he’s so humble and unassuming, he is - ironically - not one to blow his own trumpet! The band is blessed to have this wonderfully talented and dedicated musician at the heart of everything we do, so thank you, Angus, for all that you do for us. The very least we can do is award you Honorary Member status.”

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