By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1884 there was some doubt as to whether the Gathering would be held. The Oban Times of August 23 carried a letter from ‘Gillie Calum’ saying he had been watching the columns for the announcement of the Games – “so far nothing, are they to […]
By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1876 the Argyllshire Gathering games were held a day earlier than usual, on the Wednesday, September 13, with the regatta all day on the Thursday. The Lorn Ossianic Games, always previously held on Wednesday moved back to Tuesday. Its rules for the piping competitions stated: […]
By Jeannie Campbell MBE The Argyllshire Gathering of 1873 was not the first games to be held in Oban that year. The Lorn Ossianic Society had been formed in the previous year, its object being “the furtherance of Celtic Sports” and it held its first highland games on September 3, […]
By Jeannie Campbell MBE Pipers at the Argyllshire Gathering, if they think about its origins at all, probably believe it began as an ordinary Highland Games or as a piping competition to award the Gold Medal and the other important prizes. If they notice the presence of the Duke of […]
Applications are now being invited from pipers who wish to study for a Higher National Diploma in piping. The course is a new one, lasts two years and is run by the National Piping Centre in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. The course commences from this autumn (September). A […]
By Stuart Letford for Bagpipe.News The confirmation that the World Pipe Band Championships (as well as the Scottish Pipe Band Championships) will not take place this year, will come as no surprse to the pipe band world. At the very least, it gives us certainty. The news seems to have […]
Piping and pipe band historian, Jeannie Campbell has unearthed a fascinating photograph of Willie Lawrie receiving the Gold Medal in 1910. There are very few known photographs of the Ballachulish-born piper in existence so the find is extremely valuable. It was in 1910 that Lawrie became the second piper ever […]
Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, won the annual British Columbia Pipers’ Association MacCrimmon Memorial Cairn and Medal held online a couple of weeks ago. The results were announced last night. Gandy won the Open Piobaireachd and the Mary MacLeod Collins Memorial Trophy for the Open piping aggregate. This was […]
Where are you from and how did you get into piping? I was born in western North Carolina but I now live in South Carolina. As a young boy, my dad took my sisters and me to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Linville, NC. This was in 1957 or 1958, […]
We are saddened to learn of the death of Willie Gilmour, aged 80. Willie had a long association with the College of Piping that included spells as a teacher and as a member of its executive committee. Willie was also a popular piping instructor in the schools of east Ayrshire. […]
