• PART 66 •
BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE.
In 2001 the gathering was held on 22nd and 23rd August. The programme announced the sad loss in April with the death of the President Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll. The Duke had first attended the Gathering in 1949 as a small boy and had taken over the Presidency on the death of his father in 1973. During his time the Duke’s Medal for Junior Pipers and the Lorne Campbell of Airds VC trophy had been introduced.
This year was notable for Jack Lee’s double, winning the Gold Medal with Lament for Captain Donald MacKenzie and the Senior Piobaireachd with Craigellachie, on the same day. Jack already had the Northern Meeting medal and this was his first win in the Senior event.
Event No 1 for The Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal, began at 9am in the Great Western Hotel. In addition to the medal there were Money Prizes presented by the Piobaireachd Society: 1st Prize £115; 2nd Prize £65; 3rd Prize £45; 4th Prize £35; 5th Prize £25; (to be awarded only at the discretion of the Judges ).
Previous winners of the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering were not eligible and entry was restricted to those already notified of their eligibility to compete by the Joint Committee of the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting in the year of the competitions.
Competitors were to choose six tunes from this list: The Prince’s Salute, The Park Piobaireachd No 2, The Stewarts’ White Banner, The Menzies’ Salute, The Battle of Waternish, Mary’s Praise, The End of the Great Bridge, The Lament for Captain Donald MacKenzie, MacKenzie of Gairloch’s Lament, The MacKay’s Banner. There were 30 competitors. The judges were John Allan, Andrew Wright and Ronald Lawrie.
The Senior Piobaireachd Competition began at 10.30am in the Royal Hotel. The prizes were The Grant’s Senior Piobaireachd Trophy, and a Cup presented by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (both to be held for one year), and 1st Prize £135; 2nd Prize £85; 3rd Prize £65; 4th Prize £50 (to be awarded only at the discretion of the Judges). Open only to previous winners of the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal at a former Gathering at Oban or Inverness. A special Prize of £15, presented by the Royal Celtic Society will be awarded to the best all-round piper, to be chosen from the first four competitors in the Senior Piobaireachd Competition and the MSR (Former Winners) Competition, a first counting 4 points, a second 3 points, a third 2 points and a fourth 1 point. In the event of a tie in points the prize will be divided.
Competitors were to submit four from this list of eight tunes one or more selected from the prescribed settings, one of which they would be required to play: The Lament for the Duke of Hamilton, The MacDonalds’ Salute, The Unjust Incarceration, John Garve MacLeod of Raasay’s Lament, Scarce of Fishing, Donald Gruamach’s March, Craigellachie, Lament for MacLeod of Colbeck. There were 17 competitors. The judges were Malcolm McRae, Donald MacPherson and Jimmy Young.
The Silver Medal contest began at 9.00am in the Corran Halls. The prizes were a Silver Medal presented by the Argyllshire Gathering and Money prizes presented by Mr Angus Nicol. 1st Prize £85; 2nd Prize £45; 3rd Prize £40; 4th Prize £25; 5th Prize £20.
Entry was restricted to those already notified of their eligibility to compete by the Joint Committee of the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting in the year of the competition.
Competitors were to choose Six tunes from: MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart, The Glen is Mine, The Bicker, I am Proud to Play a Pipe, Salute to Donald, Glengarry’s March, The MacGregor’s Salute, Black Donald’s March, The Marquis of Argyll’s Salute, The Piper’s Warning to his Master. There were 31 competitors.
Also starting at 9.00am was the MacGregor Memorial in the Regent Hotel. Here 25 competitors took part, each submitting four tunes of their own choice, one of which was played in the morning session and one in the afternoon.
At 7.00pm the MSR for Former Winners began in the Corran Halls. The judges were John Wilson, Ian McLellan and Barry Donaldson and there were 19 entries.
Dugald MacNeill reported on the first day: ‘This year the competitors for the Gold Medal piobaireachd had to submit six tunes from a list of ten. Over the years the tunes for this competition have become more demanding and longer than they used to be. Of this year’s, four were relatively unknown: Stewart’s White Banner, Menzies’ Salute, Lament for Capt. Donald MacKenzie and MacKenzie of Gairloch’s Lament. The other six were among the more often played tunes, and most of the competitors would have known two or three of them. It is nevertheless a demanding task to have six tunes well practised especially when for some there are other competitions which have further requirements. This might explain the greater number of slips, some leading to the player not completing the tune. For those competing in both the Senior events and the Medal they had to have another four tunes, literally at their fingertips. Jack Lee thoroughly deserved to win the Oban Gold Medal. He played his tune extremely well and his execution of the gracings was first class. Ian Macey came second with the End of the Great Bridge. Iain’s good bagpipe and musicianship, especially in the ground, is usually punished later on, but this year his technique was adequate and it was a deserved second place. Of the unplaced performances, one I enjoyed was Mary Ann MacKinnon’s Mary’s Praise, especially as it had been played none too well by two previous players. Unfortunately she had a choke and some imperfections in the crunluath a-mach. Stuart Liddell was third with a sound Stewarts’ White Banner and Douglas Murray and Andrew Berthoff 4th and 5th respectively.
The evening saw a packed Corran Halls for the ‘big’ MSR for Former Winners. There was a tremendously high standard in this event with some outstanding performances, notably that of Willie McCallum, not even getting a mention in the list. In the end the evening was a triumph for young Chris Armstrong from Bathgate, West Lothian, who saw off the collective might of Angus MacColl (2nd), Alasdair Gillies (3rd) and Gordon Walker (4th) to take one of the highest awards available in light music.’
Jeannie Campbell reported on the second day: ‘Games day at Oban began as usual with the march to the field. The weather was fine and warm and there was a good turnout of pipers this year, but the new Duke of Argyll was unable to be present due to work commitments. The piping events began with the local and junior competitions, followed by the ‘A’ and ‘B’ grade marches and strathspeys and reels and the open jig contest. With five platforms being used simultaneously all were finished by about 3.30pm. There were the usual athletics and heavy events and various fun races. The dancing competitions included a team of dancers from the Queen Victoria School, Dunblane. The St Thomas Episcopal School Pipe Band from Texas played during the afternoon. Their selections were varied and entertaining but several tourists looked slightly puzzled at hearing a number of popular American tunes interspersed with old favourites.
North Americans again came to the fore winning both Grade A light music events, (Jori Chisholm and Colin Clansey) with Chris Armstrong confirming his good form by taking the jigs.
There were 36 entries in the A Grade events and 37 in the B Grade.
The full results were:
Senior Piobaireachd. 1. Jack Lee (Canada) Craigellachie, 2. William McCallum Donald Gruamach, 3. Mike Cusack (USA) Unjust Incarceration, 4. Greg Wilson Craigellachie. Judges: D. MacPherson. M. McRae, J. Young
Gold Medal. 1. Jack Lee (Canada) Lament for Capt. Donald MacKenzie, 2. Iain Macey End of the High Bridge, 3. Stuart Liddell Stewarts’ White Banner, 4. Douglas Murray Mackays’ Banner, 5. Andrew Berthoff (Canada) Mackays’ Banner. Judges: R. Lawrie, J. Allan, A. Wright.
Silver Medal. 1. Andrew Rogers (Canada) Glen is Mine. 2. Martin Frewin (New Zealand) The Bicker,3. John Mulhearn Marquis of Argyll, 4. Anne Spalding MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart, 5. Innes Smith MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart. Judges: I. MacFadyen, W MacDonald, W Fraser.
MacGregor Memorial Piobaireachd. 1. Thomas Fraser Lament for Mary MacLeod, Macintosh’s Lament, 2. Alexis Meunier (Brittany) Glen is Mine, Salute to Donald, 3. Erin McCarthy (USA) MacGregors’ Salute, Glen is mine, 4. Andrea Boyd (Canada) MacGregors’ Salute, Donald of Laggan.
Former Winners March, Strathspey & Reel. 1. Chris Armstrong, 2.Angus MacColl, 3.Alasdair Gillies, 4. Gordon Walker. Judges: I. McLellan, B. Donaldson, J. Wilson.
A March. 1. Jori Chisholm (USA), 2. John Angus Smith, 3. Herve Le Floch (Brittany), 4. Jack Lee (Canada), 5. Peter Hunt.
A Strathspey & Reel. 1. Colin Clansey (Canada), 2. Robert Watt (N Ireland), 3. Douglas Murray, 4. Euan MacCrimmon, 5. Greg Wilson.
B March. 1. Richard Hawke (New Zealand), 2. Andrew Berthoff (Canada), 3. Martin Frewin (New Zealand), 4. Brian MacKenzie, 5. Neil Walker.
B Strathspey & Reel. 1. Donald Macleod, 2. Ross Cowan, 3. Simon McKerrell, 4. Adrian Melvin (USA). 5. James MacPhee.
Jigs. 1. Chris Armstrong, 2. Robert Watt, 3. Robert Crabtree (Canada).
Local March. 1. Arlene Kerr, 2. Ian Donaldson. 3. Charles Ferguson.
Local S&R. 1. Arlene Kerr, 2. Lorne MacDougall. 3. Ian Donaldson.
Local Junior MSR. 1. Ewan Dewar, 2. Daniel Johnstone, 3. Fraser Wylie.
