The ‘penny-and-a-piobaireachd’ was the famous feu payment made by the College of Piping each summer for land at Boreraig on Skye, the ancestral home of the famous MacCrimmon piping dynasty. The background to what was for many years an annual event was given in the Piping Times of July 2016. […]
By Seumas MacNeill The important feature of ceòl mòr is, of course, the music itself, and indeed it has been suggested by one prominent piper at one time that they should be simply labelled as Opus No. 1, and so on. However, most of us have an interest in who […]
At the pipers’ pub in the Townhead, all these pipers – Danny A. Campbell of Glendale [Skye], Willie Robb, Michael MacNeill – and others would take turn about to play on the practice chanter. By this time, MacDougall Gillies, who was the manager in Peter Henderson’s shop, had agreed to […]
1928-1930 By Jeannie Campbell MBE The 1928 Gathering took place over September 12 and 13 amid good weather. There was a clash of dates with Aboyne and Braemar but this did not affect the attendance, which was a record attendance with over 12,000 spectators. Among them was the Duke of […]
After the war in South Africa, Murdoch MacDonald returned to the castle [Ardencaple Castle] and he was supplied with a new set of Henderson pipes. He was always fussy about his pipe chanter reed and never seemed to get one to please him. One night he told me he would […]
1926-1927 By Jeannie Campbell The first report of the 1926 Gathering appeared in The Scotsman ofSeptember 15: “The Argyllshire Gathering is taking place at Oban this week, and the county gentry and their friends from all parts have since Monday been assembling in Oban. Last night the annual Gaelic concert, which […]
I became a Piping Times subscriber in 1974 although I had bought occasional copies before that whenever I was in a piping shop. I joined the College of Piping’s evening classes in 1976 after playing in a band for six years and was soon helping with the enrolment of pupils […]
The first lessons MacLeod and I had from Roderick Fraser were often interrupted when he would send us into Helensburgh for a jar of beer, which he would consume with a pot of potatoes and salt herring boiled together, and being fortified with this he would then proceed to play […]
Archie MacNeill (1879-1962), is probably best known as the composer of Donald MacLean’s Farewell to Oban, The Detroit Highlanders, David Ross of Rosehall and a few other great tunes that have stood the test of time. Archie, though, was an important figure in piping and, in fact, could be regarded […]
By Jeannie Campbell 1923-1925 In 1923 the Games and Balls were held on September 12 and 13. The opening day was showery and the ground was not in particularly good condition, but there was a large crowd of people present, including the Duke of Argyll, the President of the Gathering. […]
