Inveraray & District Pipe Band piper, Chris Gray has released his first recording. The self-entitled CD is available now from his website.
Recorded last year, the reocrding was co-produced by Calum MacCrimmon and features a multi-instrumental ensemble.
A set of pipes that were reportedly played at the Battle of the Somme have been sold for £4,600. The sale was carried out recently by auctioneers, Lockdales in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The pipes had a reserve price of only £800 with the auctioneer anticipating they would sell for only £500.
The pipes are said to have belonged to William Alexander Scott who was a soldier in the 21st Battalion Tyneside Scottish, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed on the first day of the offensive – July 1, 1916 – unarmed and still carrying his pipes. Scott’s pipes were recovered and returned to his family. In recent years the pipes were sold to a private collector.
We are grateful to Anne Lore from Brittany for sending us the following report on how of a handful of pipers in her locality marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day last Friday:
“I had intended to play my tribute on the roof of The Base Sous-Marine at Saint-Nazaire, because this building was so important to the town during the Second World War. The restrictions placed on us as a result of the coronavirus pandemic meant I could not do this.
“So, four pipers from the Scottish music section of the Bagad Saint-Nazaire agreed to play at their respective homes instead. These were Marie-Christine Pasquier and Hervé Menez, Jean-Claude Guégan and myself, Anne Lore. Jean-Claude, in fact, played in front of his house then crossed the street to play for the retired people who live there.
“Prior to this, I had sent a news release to make the people aware of what we were planning and on Thursday a team of reporters of the France TV (FR3), from Nantes, rang me to arrange a visit in order to capture the tributes made by two of us.
“I played twice When the Battle’s O‘er, followed by VE75 Years, then I stopped and played the European anthem followed with Le Chant des Partisans (a song of the French Resistance), and played back again the two early tunes.
“The report was shown later on the FranceTV website. I never imagined that our local event would have been put on France’s national network. Saint-Nazaire was the last French town to be liberated (on May 11, 1945).”
Further to our post on Tuesday about VJ Day 75, pipers can now register their participation HERE.