Glasgow Police Pipe Band has appointed of Alisdair McLaren as its new Pipe Major. Alisdair replaces Iain MacPherson in the role. Alisdair, pictured right, is the Director of The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland and has worked at The National Piping Centre for 10 years. He played previously with […]
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Playing waist deep in a river – all part of royal duty for pipers
• From the May 2001 Piping Times. Neville T. McKay continues his history of the office of Sovereign’s Piper Angus MacKay’s successor at the royal household was William Ross who came from the Royal Highland Regiment, The Black Watch, where he had served 17 years. A memorandum from the Department […]
Queen Victoria’s legacy
An interview with the current Sovereign’s Piper, Pipe Major Richard Grisdale, featured in the July 2019 Piping Times. With this year being the bicentenary of the birth of Queen Victoria, who in 1843 instituted the position, we reproduce on bagpipe.news a series of articles written on the subject by Neville […]
Queen Victoria’s legacy to piping and pipe bands
From the April 2001 Piping Times “The pipes must lead.” So stated Queen Victoria to her Army top brass in the 1870s, thus ending an unseemly squabble over whether pipes or drums should form the front or rear ranks in the newly formed musical ensemble known as the pipe band. […]
Glenfiddich Piping Championship 2019 – players announced
The William Grant Foundation and The National Piping Centre are delighted to announce the list of invited players for this year’s Glenfiddich Piping Championships. The Glenfiddich was established in 1974 to inspire the world’s finest individual pipers and to seek the best overall exponents on Ceòl Mòr – or Piobaireachd […]
The value of a picture
GREY’S NOTES by Michael Grey Piping Today #60, 2012. We live in the most documented world there ever was: everyone has a digital camera and everyone uses it. Not just that, almost everyone leaves their easily-seen fingerprints all over the internet for their friends to see, for their families to […]
Cowal: pipe band results
Royal Burgh of Stirling Pipe Band lifted the iconic Argyll Shield at Cowal Highland Gathering yesterday. Grade 1 was uncontested after Johnstone pulled out. The Burgh, officially a Grade 2 outfit, played up a grade. The band has been led since last season by Gary Nimmo (Pipe Major) and George […]
Results from Birnam
Birnam Highland Games took place today in changeable weather, writes Stuart Letford. In the morning the torrential rain caused quite a few of the competitors to leave their pipes in their boxes and head back home. There was a real possibility at one stage of the event being cancelled. However, […]
Northern Meeting: CLASP results
The results from yesterday’s Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) competitions held on Day 2 of The Northern Meeting are as follows: Ceòl MòrGrade 1 – Bianca Kail; 2.David MacKenzie; 3. Stephen Ross.Grade 2 – 1. William Wardrope; 2. Dorothy Moodie; 3. Dugald MacLeod.Grade 3 (Ground) – 1. Hector […]
Northern Meeting Day 2: Beaumont wins Clasp for second year running
Callum Beaumont of Bo’ness, Scotland won the Clasp today on Day 2 of The Northern Meeting here in Inverness, writes Stuart Letford. His winning tune was The Daughter’s Lament. Callum also won the Inverness Clasp in 2018. Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Scotland, followed on from where he left off late […]