The Lochnell Intermediate Youth Championship will be held this Saturday, October 22, at the chapel in Lochnell Castle with the kind permission of the Earl of Dundonald and hosted by his son Lord Archie Cochrane. The Championship will bring together seven of Scotland’s finest Intermediate players under the age of 22 to compete in a Piobaireachd and March, Strathspey and Reel competition: Ruairidh Brown, Andrew Ferguson, Luke Kennedy, Gregor MacDonald, Angus MacPhee, Cameron May and Brodie Watson-Massey. The judges will be John Wilson, Derek Fraser and Niall Matheson.
Two new trophies will be presented at the 2022 Championship. The first is the Jimmy McIntosh MBE Memorial Trophy for Piobaireachd presented by Mrs Joyce McIntosh. Mr McIntosh was a former Oban Gold medallist and teacher of renown. The second trophy is for the MSR and is presented by McCallum Bagpipes in memory of Mr Willie McCallum Snr. Campbeltown, a man who dedicated his life to promoting piping in his native town and in wider Argyll. In addition to these trophies the Champion Piper receives a
Bronze Star presented by the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society.
John Wilson, Senior Adjudicator at this year’s Championship adds: “The Argyllshire Gathering Trust is to be congratulated on having the foresight to organise a competition such as this which provides our young, high-achieving pipers with the experience of competing in an invitational event at an exclusive venue in a format which reflects that of the Glenfiddich Piping Championship”.
Robert Wallace, the fear an tighe for this year’s event and President of the Piobaireachd Society said: “We are looking forward to welcoming everyone to Lochnell for the second annual Intermediate Youth
Championship. This competition fills a gap in the calendar for the young aspiring professional piper and encourages them on to even greater effort and success.”
The event has limited capacity and is by invitation only. If you would like to attend, please get
in touch with argyllshiregatheringtrust@gmail.com
If you would like to support the Lochnell Championship, visit their JustGiving Page here.
The inaugural Lochnell Championship was won by Andrew Fergusson and was reported on bagpipe.news here.