Tag: Donald MacPherson

The history of the Argyllshire Gathering, part 21

The history of the Argyllshire Gathering, part 21

1948 By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1948, the Gaelic Concert took place in Oban Old Parish Church Hall on the evening of the first day of the Gathering. Sir Charles MacLean Bt., Duart Castle, Chief of the MacLeans, presided. The programme included Oban Gaelic Choir plus various other vocal and […]

The history of the Argyllshire Gathering, part 14

The history of the Argyllshire Gathering, part 14

1926-1927 By Jeannie Campbell The first report of the 1926 Gathering appeared in The Scotsman ofSeptember 15: “The Argyllshire Gathering is taking place at Oban this week, and the county gentry and their friends from all parts have since Monday been assembling in Oban. Last night the annual Gaelic concert, which […]

Pipers killed / VE Day 75 / PM Whyte

Pipers killed / VE Day 75 / PM Whyte

We are grateful to Pipe Major Alistair Duthie for sending us some statistics on the number of pipers killed or wounded during the Second World War. On Friday we estimated the figure to be 10,000. However, the true figure is a little less. Mr Duthie made the following calculation: “If […]

Piper above all others

Piper above all others

The first ‘Piper Above all Others’ competition was an invitational one that was held in Glasgow from the late 1970s to the early-mid 1980s. Andrew Wright won it in 1979, Donald MacPherson in 1980, Pipe Major Angus MacDonald in 1981. Fred Morrison won the 1985 one. The 1980 competition is […]

"… a re-tie of the bridle may solve a lot of problems for the piper."

Bridling the drone reeds

During the 1970s and 1980s, David V. Kennedy was a prolific contributor to the pages of both the Piping Times and The International Piper. His article here, on the subject of cane drone reeds, has been taken from the January 1980 edition of The International Piper. Clearly, if you play […]

Bob Nicol and Jimmy.

Jimmy McIntosh: part two.

From the March 2014 Piping Times. In Part 2 of his interview with the Piping Times, Jimmy McIntosh discusses piobaireachd playing, his favourite tunes and how he’d like to be remembered man What do you think of the standard of piobaireachd playing today? I have been isolated from Scottish piping […]