My Passion with Fiona Kendall: Keeping up the tradition of my father's pipe playing

Whenever I tell people I play the bagpipes, it's always met with some surprise. I suppose I'm not the most likely candidate – hardly your stereotypical Scotsman.

I'm also a keen ballet dancer and, unless I'm on official duty with the City of York Pipe Band dressed in my sporran and Glengarry, you'll most likely catch me playing them at some party or wedding in a dress and a pair of high heels.

I took up the bagpipes properly 12 years ago. They are a family tradition introduced by my father, Iain who, despite being only half Scottish, loved the place so much he taught himself Gaelic, married a bonnie lassie from the Isle of Skye and then decided to delight us all with some enthusiastic, sometimes over-zealous bagpipe playing.

Although I grew up in a small North Yorkshire village, there's a strong Scottish contingent and a neighbour of ours, John, is an excellent piper. Sharing his talent, he taught first my father, then me and for years now, Follifoot has never been without a piper on New Year's Eve.

Father had a habit of springing up to embarrass his children in restaurants, surprising his friends in their city centre offices or gatecrashing local dinner parties with impromptu playings.

Playing formed a big part of my upbringing and so, after my father died, rather than leave his pipes in a cupboard, I decided to keep the Kendall tradition alive.

The learning process on the bagpipes is not pretty. Once you graduate from the practice chanter, you then have to build up your strength on the pipes themselves, increasing diaphragm stamina and lung capacity while reinforcing your cheek muscles. Much wailing and squealing ensued from both mother and pipes before I eventually reached a standard where I could proudly represent the City of York Pipe Band.

I meet the band on as many Wednesday evenings as I can and this has given me the opportunity to play with some great pipers, both male and female. Over the years, band engagements have allowed me to take part in Remembrance Day parades, the world's largest pipe band (10,000 of us) at the Edinburgh Pipefest and even at an event where I gave Richard Branson a quick tutorial.

Sadly, I've been away for many of the outings this year, but I've made up for it by playing at a number of weddings, including that of a childhood friend.

Although lack of time often makes practice difficult, I'll always keep them going – while I'm definitely more reserved than my father, I do think they make a pretty good party trick.