History of the Argyllshire Gathering: the 1997 competition

• PART 62 •

BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE.

In 1997 the Gathering dates were 27th and 28th August. The set tunes for the Gold Medal were The Battle of Auldearn No 2, The Battle of the Pass of Crieff, The End of the Great Bridge, Lachlan MacNeill Campbell’s Fancy, The MacDougalls’ Gathering, The Menzies Salute, Park Piobaireachd No 2, The Young Laird of Dungallon’s Salute. Four were to be submitted. There were 30 competitors.

The Senior event had 12 competitors who were required to submit eight tunes of their own choice. For the Silver Medal the set tunes were The Glen is Mine, Glengarry’s March, The Little Spree, MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart’s Lament No 1, The MacGregors’ Salute, MacLeod of Raasay’s Salute, The Massacre of Glencoe, Tulloch Ard. Four tunes were to be chosen and there were 30 competitors. The MacGregor Memorial was held in the Regent Hotel with 14 entries. Between the two rounds the junior MSR with four competitors was held. For the Former Winners MSR there were 17 names in the programme. On Games day there were 40 competitors listed for the A grade and 37 for the B grade. The pipe band was Callander and District.

Piping Times report

The 1997 Piping Times report was by ‘Our Man in Argyll.’

“We foregathered in Oban on the evening of Tuesday 26th August. The weather was fine, and expectations of a pleasant Argyllshire Gathering were high. Next morning, however, when we cast lazy eyes from pillows at television screens in the rooms, there it was – a weather warning. Spirits sank, and there was an instant feeling of deja vu. Sure enough, the rains came, but by the time the pubs opened at 11am they had gone and the weather was fine from then onwards.

“The trouble with Oban on piobaireachd day, is that you cannot be everywhere at the same time, with four competitions going on in four different venues – The MacGregor Memorial Competition, the Silver Medal, the Gold Medal and the Senior Competition or Clasp. So you have to decide whether to choose one and stay there all day, or move from one to another and listen to bits of all four.

“I chose to do the latter, and first it was the MacGregor Memorial, for competitors under 22. I heard some good tunes there, and at the end of the competition, both judges expressed the view that the standard of the playing had been very high.

“The results were:

1. Matthew Maclsaac, Queen Anne’s Lament and MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart’s Lament;
2. Innes Smith, Grain in Hides and Corn in Sacks and The Massacre of Glencoe;
3. Graeme Roy, The Groat and Lament for Donald of Laggan.

“The judges were Mr Ronald Morrison and Mr Neill Mulvie.

“On then to the Silver Medal in the Corran Halls, where no less than 27 pipers played. Apart from a large Scottish contingent, eight of the twenty-seven came from North America, and there was one from Germany. I heard a few good tunes, but the judges expressed some disquiet at the overall standard in this competition. Perhaps we expect too much from some of these pipers at this stage.

“The results were:

1. PM Lewis Barclay, The MacGregors’ Salute
2. James MacPhee, Glengarry’s March
3. Andrew Mathieson, MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart’s Lament, (No. 1)
4. Stuart Cassells, The Little Spree; 5. Ann Gray, Tulloch Ard.

“The judges were PM Angus Macdonald, James Young and Alan Forbes.

“The Gold Medal competition was taking place all this time in the Great Western Hotel as it has done for many years. The very spacious hall has been tastefully redecorated, but the roof is rather on the low side, and one hears minor complaints from some people about the acoustics making the pipe not easy to tune. No complaints to Oban on that, however, as the town is seriously short of halls of the size required for these competitions. Some demanding tunes had been set for the Gold Medal, but there is no doubt that the standard of playing was very satisfactory.

“The results were:

1. James Murray, The Battle of Auldearn (No. 2)
2. Logan Tannock, The Battle of the Pass of Crieff
3. Alan Bevan, The Young Laird of Dungallon’s Salute
4. Allan Russell, The Menzies’ Salute.

“The judges were PM Ronald Lawrie, Mr Malcolm McRae and Mr Joe Henderson.

“By this time the day was wearing on, and I arrived at the Senior Piobaireachd competition in the Royal Hotel in time to hear only the last tune – which was, fortunately for me, one of the prize-winning tunes. There was a good audience but a rather high proportion of these senior players broke down. This is all the more reprehensible when they had submitted their own choice of tunes.

“The results were:

1. Michael Cusack, Craigellachie
2. William McCallum, Nameless (Cherede darievea )
3. Alasdair Gillies, Lament for Ronald MacDonald of Morar
4. Colin MacLellan, The Blue Ribbon.

“The judges were Mr Andrew Wright, Mr James Burnet and Mr William Macdonald (Benbecula).

“On the Wednesday evening, came what was arguably the most popular competition of all – the March, Strathspey and Reel competition for Former Winners. Sixteen pipers took part, and the competition ran in the Corran Halls from 7.00pm until 10.30pm.

“The first thing to strike players and audience alike was the totally different layout of this spacious main hall. Instead of, as before, the pipers playing on the high platform to an audience sitting in rows in the body of the hall, they played midway down the right side of the hall, with the audience seated fan-like around them. Predictably, some liked it, some did not. Personally, I thought it was fine, and well worth another try. I would say the audience enjoyed it; they must feel, being so much nearer to the piper, that they are much more part of the action.

“And the action was extremely good. Mostly, the tunes were played steadily and musically on good instruments, but even at this level, one can pick out the occasional crossing noise and technical slip, a tendency to rush things along too quickly in places, or for a tune to be lacking something in pointing or expression.

“The results were:

1. Alasdair Gillies, Mrs John MacColl, Tulloch Castle and Mrs Macpherson of Inveran
2. Sgt. Gordon Walker, Abercairney Highlanders, The Piper’s Bonnet and John Morrison of Assynt House
3. William McCallum, Angus Campbell’s Farewell to Stirling, Arniston Castle and Lt. Col. D.J.S. Murray
4. James Murray, Abercairney Highlanders, Cabar Feidh and The Smith of Ghillieschassie.

“The judges were Major John Allan, Mr James Young and Mr Finlay MacNeill.

“Thought for the end of the day. Why is it that competitors in the MacGregor Memorial Competition are asked to submit four tunes and then to play two of them, one in the morning and one in the afternoon? Not even Clasp competitors are asked to play more than one tune. There must be a reason for this, but it is surely an anomaly that must be addressed.”

The Games

“If the weather is fine, there is nothing quite like being in Oban on the morning of the Games themselves. And for the second day, the weather was again fine. The first major attraction is the March to the Games, when His Grace, the Duke of Argyll along with other chiefs and the games stewards lead the competing pipers from the town out to Mossfield Park. The difficulty is to find a vantage point from which to watch the parade. The route is lined with people, and it seems that the top of every wall, every window and rooftop is taken.

“Some of us had to be on the games field in advance, and it is quite stirring to hear the sound of the pipes in the distance and then getting closer and closer until the parade reaches the field, playing such well-known Argyll tunes as Glendaruel Highlanders and The Argyllshire Gathering itself. Seumas MacNeill used to say this was the best pipe band of all, because there were no drummers. By then, the pipes were well aired, and it was on with the games.

“Judges PM Ronald Lawrie, Mr James Young and Mr Finlay MacNeill got the Senior March A going on the platform nearest to the Members’ Enclosure. This is normally a good platform, in spite of the fact that a few years back the force of the wind from the blades of a helicopter which was landing blew down the judges’ tent while they were inside. Luckily, no damage was done – except perhaps for a little wounded pride. Nothing so exciting this year. The worst that happened was that the games’ organisers had forgotten to put any steps up to the fairly high platform. This caused a slight embarrassment to Ann Gray from Calgary, but it did not worry her too much and she went on to play a fine Leaving Glenurquhart. Shortly afterwards a smart soldier produced a milk crate of the correct size and there were no further distractions.

“Thirty pipers played in this march competition, which is a lengthy, though very pleasant day’s work for any set of judges. The standard was quite good on the whole, with lots of excellent fingers and correct, musical playing. What marred many performances was a lack of expression, the cutting and clipping of notes and gracenotes, and the pipe either not being fully in tune at the start or not staying in tune as the march progressed.

“The results were:

1. Iain Speirs
2. Ian K. MacDonald
3. Niall Mathieson
4. Douglas Murray
5. Stuart Liddell

“Meanwhile, on a platform at the other end Mr Eddie Clark, Mr Ronald Morrison and Mr Joe Henderson were busy judging the March Grade B competition. This was obviously another long competition, and at the end of it, the results were:

1. Piper Iain Finlayson
2. Graeme Roy
3. Neil Walker
4. Peter Hunt
5. Leslie Hutt

“Across the field, the feet were really tapping to countless strathspeys, reels and jigs. In the Strathspey and Reel Grade A, the judges were Mr Neill Mulvie, Mr Alan Forbes and Mr Barry Donaldson, and the results were:

1. Ian K. MacDonald
2. Iain Speirs
3. Scott Drummond
4. Stuart Liddell
5. Roddy MacLeod

“It was most interesting to note that the two Iains took the first two places in both March and Strathspey and Reel, albeit in reverse order. Both were in quite outstanding form.

“It is difficult to understand why this should be, but the only three judges this year to sufficiently impress the Oban Times photographer were Mr James Burnet, Mr William Macdonald from Benbecula and Mr Andrew Wright. They had their picture in the newspaper on the following week, and when one studies the sagacious concentration, it was probably a fair choice.

“They came up with this result in the Strathspey and Reel, Grade B:

1. Mark Wemyss
2. Neil Walker
3. Yvonne MacKenzie
4. James MacHattie
5. Piper Ian Finlayson

“And for almost all of this lengthy day, Mr Malcolm McRae and Major John Allan were sorting out the Jig competition. A ‘fun’ competition it may be, and most attractive to listen to, but certainly no less easy to judge for all that. They came up with the following result:

1. Sgt. Gordon Walker
2. Douglas Murray
3. Alan Bevan

“Final thoughts. The organisers and stewards deserve nothing but the highest praise: nothing is too much trouble, and all is done as if it was no trouble at all. It is not so much the number of good pipers who win prizes: the sad thing is the number of good pipers who do not win prizes. Oban is a great place at any time; on the days of the Argyllshire Gathering, it has an atmosphere all of its own. Try not to miss Oban ’98’.”