It looks like this winter will be a long one. COVID-19 is on the rise again throughout Europe and beyond. Statistics a fortnight ago revaled the UK as the leading region globally for new cases yet this wasn’t mentioned by the country’s state broadcaster, the BBC. There seems to be […]
The last happy days – the great highland bagpipe in JFK’s Camelot By Major Robert Keith Gunther This unprecedented participation of a foreign unit – The Black Watch – in the funeral for a President of the United States was the result of another of Mrs. Kennedy’s requests. The regiment […]
The last happy days – the great highland bagpipe in JFK’s Camelot “I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.” (JFK) […]
By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1848, a new society was formed in London and several papers reported on the founding: “Within the last few months a new society has been formed in London; not strictly for Scotchmen, but of the friends and admirers of Scotland. The new society takes the […]
1962 By Jeannie Campbell MBE After the 1962 Argyllshire Gathering the Piping Times carried a full report of the event: “Once again the summer games season reached its culmination in the middle of September, and once again, at the beginning of the second week of the month, all roads led […]
I have never been in any branch of the armed forces. I wasn’t in the Boys’ Brigade or the Boy Scouts either. Other than playing in a pipe band I didn’t grow up with any connection to any sort of military tradition. I have friends who serve currently and have […]
Dugald Campbell McLachlan (1893-1958) was a founding member of the Camelon Pipe Band and its Pipe Major for two decades prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. His father, Peter (1859-1913) was a piper who worked as a gamekeeper at Lochearnhead before taking a job at a chemical […]
By Jeannie Campbell MBE The Caledonian Society of London was instituted in 1839 and had its first formal session in 1839-1840 although some activities had started as early as 1837. The impetus seems to have been a desire by professional Scots, particularly those from the Lowlands, to create an alternative […]
By Wilson Brown (NPC Piping Instructor and Tuition Co-ordinator) On March 20, 2020, the National Piping Centre (NPC) closed its doors to students and, like most of the world, went into lockdown. The last student to be taught in person was Lou Lanaro, a 72-year-old piper from Collingwood, Ontario. Lou […]
In the eight years since I moved to Scotland from Pittsburgh, many of the spoils of life in this new place have long since gone from novel to normal. No longer must I wait until a highland games to purchase piping goods in person; I can pop into a wide […]
