By Stuart Letford for Bagpipe.news Pages from the 1921 Census in the United Kingdom (UK) were made available for the first time yesterday. Unfortunately, the pages only cover England and Wales. The pages that cover Scotland won’t be released until late this year due to “complications” as a result of […]
Some years later the Scottish Pipers and Dancers Association formed and I was put forward as one of the committee. Also included were Pipe Major John MacKenzie (Big John), James Mclvor, Pipe Major George Ross and others. I forget the names of the dancers who were also on the committee […]
1933-1934 By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1933 the usual advertisements appeared in the usual newspapers during August ahead of the Gathering on September 13 and 14. Accommodation at hotels and boarding houses was taxed to the utmost. The Duke of Argyll, chieftain of the gathering, was not present this year. The […]
1909-1911 By Jeannie Campbell In 1909 the weather is described as ‘charming’. The report goes on, “The presence in the bay of HMS Essex and HMS Victorious lent an added interest to the Gathering, detachments of the blue jackets and marines taking an active part in the athletic sports.” The […]
In part 2 of his discussion on drone tuning and harmonics, John Dally uses Scotish smallpipes to explain how pipers can understand drones and the intricacies of tuning. By John Dally Now that we have established that the drones provide a harmonic background, it is easy to understand why different […]
By Thomas Pearston The photograph of four chanters, below, is a confirmation of the rise in pitch over the past 50 years. Chanter A is a chanter from the First World War, B is about the early 1940s and C is a modern chanter as played to-day. D is a […]
In September 1987 the Piping Times began a series called ‘Famous pipers’. Bessie Brown was the first piper to feature. The following month, at that year’s Glenfiddich, Bessie was awarded the Balvenie Medal for services to piping. She died in 1992. Below, we reproduce Seumas’ feature on Bessie. By Seumas […]
By Lt. Col. D. J. S. Murray In the year 2000 there was published Dr William Donaldson’s seminal The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society, a well written, well researched and well sourced book which one thought would have been well received by the serious piping fraternity. The contrary was the […]
James Blair Robertson was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1905. He was for many years a living legend among competing pipers and when he died, in London on October 2, 1988, one of the last remaining links with the leading pipers of the 1920s and 1930s was gone. Competitively, his […]
The Green Hills of Tyrol is a ubiquitous tune, learnt by virtually all pipers at an early stage. In 1961, the famous Scottish singer Andy Stewart put words to the tune and his song, A Scottish Soldier reached the No. 1 pop chart spot in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. […]
