Pipers led the way at events held across the United States of America at the weekend to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. Hundreds of commemorative events were held in every part of the country including at Ground Zero where the […]
Daily News
Peel Police, Boyd on top at Cobourg Games
Peel Regional Police won the Grade 2 competition at Cobourg Highland Games which took place yesterday in the picturesque town north east of Toronto and beside the shores of Lake Ontario. Andrea Boyd was the overall winner of the solo piping competition held for professional pipers. It was the first […]
Stories of the Tunes – Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonell of Glengarry
The subject of this attractive little tune was the eldest son of Donald MacDonald of Glengarry (‘Donald of Laggan’, the seventh chief of this powerful branch of Clan Donald) and Margaret MacDonald of Clan Ranald. Donald was aged 16 when Alasdair was born, in 1559 on Lewis. Alasdair’s epithet of […]
Pitlochry Games composing competition / Sunday sessions at NPC / Neill Mulvie retires from judging
Pitlochry Highland Games, one of the oldest, is launching a composing competition to mark its 170th anniversary in 2022. A spokesman said compositions will be accepted in any time signature but the tune must contain a minimum of four parts. All entries will be judged anonymously by three independent judges […]
Stuart Letford: Echoes of Oban
Day 1The drive from my home in central Perthshire was sublime. By the time I reached Killin, the morning mist cleared and the sun shone brightly. There was not one cloud in the sky. I stopped briefly at the Green Welly Shop in Tyndrum, the quintessential ‘tea and a pee’ […]
G. S. McLennan pipes / MacDougall Cup whereabouts sought / 2021 Balmoral Classic
Shortly after our post appeared yesterday regarding information on Pipe Major Roderick John Gillies’ pipes, we have received a query regarding a set made by the great Pipe Major G. S. McLennan. Rab Brown from Aberdeenshire, the owner of the pipes, tells us he has been playing the pipes for […]
The Glenfiddich returns for 2021
This year’s Glenfiddich returns to Blair Castle on October 30. The prestigious 48th annual solo piping event will welcome a full live audience to the Perthshire venue’s Victorian ballroom whilst also being livestreamed. Callum Beaumont, as the overall winner of the 2021 Masters Competition, a qualifying event, receives an invite. […]
P.M. R. J. Gillies’ pipes / Dugald Gillespie / Kilberry Castle for sale / Roddy’s recital
Reader, Alexander Gillies is seeking information on his late father’s pipes. Alexander’s father was Pipe Major Roderick John Gillies [pictued] and he died in 1997 aged 67. Roderick served as Pipe Major of the Cameronians just before it disbanded in 1968. He was then Pipe Major of the Royal Scots […]
Bobby Pinkman, 1954-2021 / Moisture issues / The Nicol-Brown ten / Pleasanton results
Following our brief report last Thursday that Bobby Pinkman (67) had died, we are now able to provide a fuller obituary on this popular figure in the piping and pipe band scene of East Lothian, Scotland. Robert – ‘Bobby’ – Pinkman was born in Gorebridge, a former mining village in […]
The history of the Argyllshire Gathering, part 23
1951 By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1951, competitors for the Argyllshire Gathering’s Open Piobaireachd competition had to offer four tunes, MacDougalls’ Gathering, John GarveMacLeod of Raasay’s Lament, The Daughter’s Lament, Lachlan MacNeill Campbell of Kintarbert’s Fancy. The Gold Medal competitors were to submit six tunes of their own choice. John […]