Field Marshal Concert/ CLASP/ CPA Poll/ Guide to the Games/ Letter

Former World Champions, Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band have announced that the audience can help pick the tunes for next August’s sure-to-be-a sell-out concert in Glasgow. The band have posted a form on their website asking for suggestions:

‘Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band is delighted to be returning to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to perform at the prestigious pre-Worlds concert on Wednesday 10th August, 2016. Hosted by the Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band, the annual event has become the pinnacle in concert performance for the world’s top pipe bands. FMM is honoured to be returning to this world-class stage for the fifth time in its history and are very excited to present their brand new concert, IMPACT.


‘IMPACT is a celebration of the rich musical identity that Field Marshal Montgomery has developed and carefully nurtured over the last 30 years. Packed with new and exciting arrangements, the concert will also feature tunes with which the band has become synonymous, and which pay tribute to those fine composers who have shaped the FMM before you today. Tickets are priced at £19.50 and are now available here.

Now is your chance to have a say in what the band will play on the night. We want to know your favourite FMM medley selections, concert sets and tunes. We’ll collate the results and issue a public vote with the most popular being played on the night. Let us know your FMM favourites via our Facebook and Twitter accounts or by email to info@fmmpb.com. Have an IMPACT and get involved!’

richard-parkes
A proven winner…FMM’s P/M Richard Parkes with yet another trophy

Read P/M Richard Parkes’ fascinating interview with Piping Press. The interview ran from last October soon after the band had their poorest showing at the Worlds for many years.

Talking of pipe band concerts don’t forget the 78th Frasers reunion concert at Celtic Connections a week on Saturday. Read about the origins of the original concert held in Ballymena in 1987 here.


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piping centre logoMargaret Dunn has sent this about the latest CLASP competition for amateur pipers: ‘On Saturday, 16th January, we ran our annual CLASP competition in the Scots Guards Club, Haymarket. The CLASP has grown so much over the past couple of years that we often need more room to facilitate big entries. This year we also used the facilities of the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society on Rose Street. The day went very smoothly between both venues and here are the full results.’ (Click on the link).

Thanks Margaret; your results launch our Results 2016 page and we would ask that all contest promoters send in their info so that we can keep the page up to date throughout the year. We would ask that contestants and prizewinners get the phones out and send a few pix too. No better way to record your moment of glory!


n-uistNorth Uist Games have sent details of the 2016 event missing from yesterday’s Guide to the Games. Also added are details from Lochaber with other updates on Grantown-on-Spey, Tobermory, Lonach and Invergordon. We repeat our request to all promoters to forward updates and additional info as it is confirmed.


Letter today from Nick Hudson in the US re the Guide to the Games and the Alasdair Gillies series.


A warm welcome awaits at the South Florida Pipe & Drum Academy