Piper of the Year and Hogmanay Parties

Robert Wallace: The winner of our Piper of the Year – chosen by pipingpress.com readers – is P/M Stuart Liddell. Stuart was placed just ahead of P/M Douglas Murray and P/M Richard Parkes. I am sure voters will have been impressed by Stuart’s successes on both the solo and band platforms but more than anything by the brilliance of his playing, and, of course, that of his band, Inveraray & District….

Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships

The Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championship have issued this press release: ‘Scotland’s National Instrument in Danger of Extinction’ The iconic sight and sound of pipers playing Auld Lang Syne at Hogmanay street parties could be under threat – according to piping enthusiasts who are campaigning for more tuition in state schools. More than 75,000 people are expected to descend upon Princes Street on December 31 to attend one of the world’s…

New CPA Grading Committee Announced (comments added)

It is All About Perception By Robert Wallace The Competing Pipers’ Association have announced their new Grading Committee as follows: Colin MacLellan (Chair), Iain Speirs, William McCallum, Douglas Murray, Finlay Johnston, Glenn Brown, Cameron Drummond (light music only), Callum Beaumont (piob. only). All highly qualified individuals with more lustrous medals between them than a particularly industrious jackdaw. They have been charged with allocating status to their peers (peers in every case except the chairman who no longer competes). More…

PP Editor’s Blog 26/12/14

With only five days to go before we announce our Piper of the Year, another opportunity to make your choice. The pipers, in no particular order, are P/M Stuart Liddell, P/M Douglas Murray and P/M Richard Parkes. Stuart won many top prizes during the year including the Former Winners’ MSR at Oban and the Glenfiddich Championship. His band, Inveraray & District, were runners-up in the Worlds, their highest ever placing….

Happy Festivities from the Editor 2014

It is Christmas Day here in Scotland and if you celebrate this festival I hope you are enjoying yourselves. Thanks to our many thousands of readers the world over who have made the first four months of our not-for-profit web magazine such a success. Our readership figures for the period Aug 25 – December 25 stand at a pleasing 99,975 with a daily average of 700+. We will endeavour to improve…