March On! ...the history of the
Toronto Optimists Drum & Bugle Corps
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Al Tierney
Corps: Optimists Cadets, Toronto Optimists, Seneca Optimists
Al first came to the Optimist in 1966 when his two sons joined the corps and he quickly volunteered his time and energy in organizing the Optimists Cadets Drum Corps. This organization became critical to the future success of the Optimists, constantly supplying them with well trained, well disciplined new members.
Al wrote a series of articles on how to create a feeder Corps, and these were used for many years by other Corps as a template for developing their own similar organizations.
He was crucially instrumental, along with Wolfgang Petschke, in merging the Toronto Optimists and the Seneca Princemen to form the Seneca Optimists. In 1976 Al became the first Corps Director of the Seneca Optimists.
Al . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We Remember!