1. How are you these days?I am doing fine, thanks. I think this second round of lockdown restrictions has been far more challenging and there are days when motivation is low, but in speaking to friends and colleagues, I think many people are feeling the same – it’s always nice […]
By Dugald B. MacNeill Nearly 30 years ago I heard John MacFadyen play this tune on the wireless. I was on holiday near Taynuilt at the time and it was one of the piping broadcasts I have enjoyed most. The very few other pipers who played it then and some […]
Scotland’s comprehensive victory over England in the Calcutta Cup last weekend prompted these reminiscences of a Tartan Army veteran and piper: By Alasdair Roberts This all started quarter of a century ago. We were a Dons*-minded group calling ourselves the Aberdeen Convivial Society for home and away exchanges of entertainment. […]
By Stephen Beattie James Downie Watt was born on June 10, 1869 in Leamington, Warwickshire, England and raised by his parents, John Ross Watt and Jane Warden Ritchie, both of whom hailed from Scotland. James – J. D. – was one of 10 children, three of whom died in infancy. […]
Continuing the story of the MacRae pipers of Harris. By Jeannie Campbell MBE Angus MacRae’s brother, Finlay was Piper to John Stewart of Ensay, according to the Notices of Pipers. Ensay is a small island just off the south coast of Harris. John Stewart was born in Harris in 1825 […]
By Jeannie Campbell The MacRae family was originally from Kintail but Christopher MacRae, who was born about 1807, moved to the island of Harris some time prior to 1840. Christopher married Isabella MacKenzie and had a large family. The 1851 census shows them living in Obbe, Harris: Christopher (40) a […]
I wonder if you have ever heard the old joke – “Why is the Free Kirk so opposed to sex before marriage?” Answer – “Because it might lead to dancing.” I am first going to make the assumption that everyone reading this regards the pipes as a musical instrument and […]
The west end of Glasgow, Scotland has been the focal point of so much piping history. Jeannie Campbell takes a llok at what piping history there is to be found within a 15 minute walk of the College of Piping (now the National Piping Centre Otago Street). By Jeannie Campbell […]
By Jeannie Campbell The Exposition Universelle was an event held in Paris in 1889 that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille and featured the debut of the Eiffel Tower. Three similar events had been held in the decades before this one. It ran from May to […]
By Niall Graham-Campbell Many of the famous and successful pipers have much written about them. As a change, I thought that I would like to try to create a favourable impression about a lesser figure in the piping world, Willie MacDonald or Black Will. In part, the reason behind this […]
