• PART 68 •
BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE.
The Argyllshire Gathering for 2003 was on the 27th and 28th August. The set tunes for 2003 were Gold Medal: The Maclntyres’ Salute, I Got a Kiss of the King’s Hand, Farewell to the Laird of Islay, The MacLeods’ Salute (to include Taorluath a mach & Crunluath a mach var), The Finger Lock, Ronald MacDonald of Morar’s Lament, The Battle of the Pass of Crieff, Lament for Colin Roy Mackenzie, The Blue Ribbon, Mackenzie of Applecross’ Salute. Six were required.
Senior: Spaidearachd Bharrach, Abercairney’s Salute, Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute, Salute to MacDonald of Staffa, Sir James MacDonald of the Isles’ Salute, Lament for Cluny MacPherson. Four were required.
Silver Medal: A Flame of Wrath for Patrick Caogach, The Lament for Mary MacLeod, Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel’ s Salute, You’re Welcome, Ewan Lochiel, MacLeod’s Controversy, The MacDonalds are Simple, Lady Anapool’s Lament, The MacFarlanes’ Gathering. Four were required.
There were 18 entries for the Senior Piobaireachd, 28 for the Gold Medal, 32 for the Silver Medal, 22 for the Former Winners, 25 for the MacGregor Memorial, 37 for the A March, 36 for the A Strathspey and Reel, 37 for the B March and the B Strathspey and Reel, seven for the Junior MSR and six for the local march and the local Strathspey and Reel.
In 2002 the rule for entry to the Former Winners MSR stated that it was: ‘Confined to previous first prize winners in the Marches or in the Strathspey and Reel at the Argyllshire Gathering.’ In 2003 this rule was changed to: ‘Confined to previous first prize winners in the Marches and in the Strathspey and Reel competitions, at the Argyllshire Gathering, not necessarily in the same year.’ So in 2003 when Margaret Houlihan won the Strathspey and Reel, she did not become the first woman to qualify for the Former Winners, although under the previous rules she would have done so.
Jeannie Campbell reported for the Piping Times: “The Argyllshire Gathering this year took place in two days of glorious Oban sunshine.
“Wednesday morning started early with three events at 9am, the Gold Medal in the Great Western Hotel, the Silver Medal in the Corran Halls and the MacGregor Memorial in the Regent Hotel. The Senior Piobaireachd started a little later, at 10.30am in the Royal Hotel.
“There were 18 competitors listed for the Senior Piobaireachd but six had notified their withdrawal before the contest began. The other 12 played and all finished their tunes. No reasons were given for the withdrawals. Despite this, we were still able to hear all six of the set tunes, with some very different interpretations of some of them by different competitors. Perhaps we should spare a thought for the judges, who had to learn all the set tunes and be familiar with all the different interpretations, so they had quite a workload.
“The winner this year was Mike Cusack from the USA. This was his fourth win, the first being in 1989.”
Senior Piobaireachd results: 1. Mike Cusack, Pride of Barra, 2. Robert Wallace, Lament for Cluny Macpherson, 3. Niall Matheson, Lament for Cluny Macpherson, 4. Angus MacColl, Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute. The other competitors were Murray Henderson, Roddy MacLeod, Colin MacLellan, Stuart Shedden, Willie McCallum, Jack Lee, Iain Speirs and Dr Angus MacDonald. Judges: Iain MacFadyen, Jimmy Young and Malcolm McRae.
“On a different subject, one listener who was sitting on the front row remarked afterwards that some of the top pipers seemed to be unacquainted with silver polish.
“The Gold and Silver Medals were both full day events and the MacGregor Memorial, for pipers under the age of 22, also had a large entry of young pipers. Callum Beaumont, who was probably one of the youngest competitors in the event, as he has not yet reached the age of fifteen, won the MacGregor. The Gold Medal winner was Bruce Gandy from Canada, who won the Inverness Medal last year. The Silver Medal winner, 22-year-old Ross Cowan, is a pupil at The College of Piping, as is the 4th placed competitor Jonathan Greenlees from Northern Ireland.”
Gold Medal result: 1. Bruce Gandy, 2. Stuart Shedden, 3. Robert Watt, 4. Richard Hawke, 5. Alan Bevan. Judges: Ronald Lawrie, John MacDougall and John Wilson.
Silver Medal result: 1. J Ross Cowan, 2. Margaret Houlihan, 3. Louise Hay, 4. Jonathan Greenlees, 5. Glenn Brown. Judges: Donald MacPherson, Walter Drysdale and Jimmy Banks.
“The Former Winners MSR started at 5pm in the Corran Halls and had a massive entry of 22 pipers. The tunes are played twice over so this was a long competition. The new man in charge, Jamie Fraser, had made a few changes and one of these was to issue a sheet to all audience members listing all the competitors with the tunes (six of each) which they had submitted. This was an excellent idea as we were able to see the lists from which the judges were selecting the tunes and tick off the chosen ones as they were announced. Not all played and there were a couple of breakdowns, but this was still a feast of the best in light music and some great piping was heard during the almost five hour duration of the competition. Following this, all the results from the first day were announced and the prizes and trophies were presented.”
Former Winners MSR result: 1. Gordon Walker, 2. Willie McCallum, 3. Chris Armstrong, 4. Angus MacColl. Judges: John Allan, Barry Donaldson and Gavin Stoddart.
“The second day began in the traditional fashion with the march from the town to the games field. The new Gold Medallist, Bruce Gandy, took the pipe major’s position for the assembled band of competing pipers. Seumas MacNeill used to say that this was the best pipe band in the world because there were no drummers. The last tune played as the pipers reach the field is John MacColl’s great march, The Argyllshire Gathering. The Duke of Argyll took the pipe major’s position for the assembled officials, stewards and members of the Gathering.
“The piping took place on five platforms within the arena, to the usual accompaniment of starting guns and commentaries on the athletic and heavy events going on all around. All the piping events were finished by 3.30pm.The Kintyre Schools Pipe Band played selections at intervals during the afternoon and there were all the usual fun events and sideshows. Margaret Houlihan won the A Grade Strathspey and Reel to the cheers of female pipers around the world. The A Grade march was won by Douglas Murray who only needs to win the Strathspey and Reel before he joins brother James in the Former Winners. The B March went to Alastair Dunn, the B Strathspey and Reel to Neil Smith and the Jig to Alan Bevan.”
The full results were;
Senior Piobaireachd: 1. Mike Cusack, Pride of Barra, 2. Robert Wallace, Lament for Cluny Macpherson, 3. Niall Matheson, Lament for Cluny Macpherson, 4. Angus MacColl, Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute. The other competitors were Murray Henderson, Roddy Macleod, Colin Maclellan, Stuart Shedden, Willie McCallum, Jack Lee, Iain Speirs and Dr Angus MacDonald. Judges: Iain MacFadyen, Jimmy Young and Malcolm McRae.
Gold Medal: 1. Bruce Gandy, 2. Stuart Shedden, 3. Robert Watt, 4. Richard Hawke, 5. Alan Bevan. Judges: Ronald Lawrie, John MacDougall and John Wilson.
Silver Medal: 1. J Ross Cowan, 2. Margaret Houlihan, 3. Louise Hay, 4. Jonathan Greenlees, 5. Glenn Brown. Judges: Donald MacPherson, Walter Drysdale and Jimmy Banks.
MacGregor Memorial: 1. Callum Beaumont, 2. Hector MacQuarrie, 3. Finlay Johnston, 4. Fraser Maitland. Judges: Andrew Wright, Roger Huth and Neill Mulvie.
Former Winners MSR: 1. Gordon Walker, 2. Willie McCallum, 3. Chris Armstrong, 4. Angus MacColl. Judges: John Allan, Barry Donaldson and Gavin Stoddart.
A March: 1. Douglas Murray, 2. Neil Walker, 3. Niall Stewart, 4. Niall Matheson, 5. Gavin Walker. Judges: Walter Drysdale, Malcolm McRae and John Wilson.
A S&R: 1. Margaret Houlihan, 2. Alan Bevan, 3. Neil Walker, 4. lain Speirs, 5. Richard Hawke. Judges: Andrew Wright, Gavin Stoddart and Ronald Lawrie.
B March: 1. Alastair Dunn, 2. Andrew Carlisle, 3. Brian MacKenzie, 4. Hamish Munro, 5. Andrew Hall. Judges: Jimmy Young, Roger Huth and John Allan.
B S&R: 1. Neil Smith, 2. Glenn Brown, 3. Fiona MacKay, 4.Lisa Morrison, 5. Darach Urquhart. Judges: Donald MacPherson, Iain MacFadyen and Barry Donaldson.
Jig: 1. Alan Bevan, 2. Gordon McCready, 3. Niall Stewart, 4. Brendon Eade. Judges: Jimmy Banks and John MacDougall.
Local March: 1. Euan Dewar, 2. Iain Donaldson, 3. Charles Ferguson, Alastair Currie. Judges: Andrew Wright, Donald MacPherson.
Local S&R: 1. Euan Dewar, 2. Alastair Currie, 3. Iain Donaldson, 4. Charles Ferguson. Judges: Roger Huth, John Allan.
Junior MSR: 1. Julie Blue, 2. Daniel Johnstone, 3. Struan Thorpe, 4. Fraser Wylie. Judges: Jimmy Young, Jimmy Banks.