In his remarks Andrew Wright referred to it having been a busy year with four committee meetings and much email traffic. He used the phrase ‘victims to emails’ which brought wry nods from those present. He also said ‘piobaireachd is a worldwide art form, and competition promotes the playing of it. Things have to be seen to be right’. He also mentioned his concern about what information is made public.
Colin MacLellan was not at the meeting but in a statement read out said: ‘If elected as Chairman of the SPJA, I would aim to be open and inclusive, encouraging input and opinions from everyone within the association. However, I would remain consistent with views which I have previously clearly expressed and which are well known. I also am firmly a believer in the majority view being respected.
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There will be no change in the code of conduct at present. Feedback from the CPA and competition organisers after the first year of operation of the ‘no pupils’ rule is awaited at next week’s meeting of the committee for solo piping competitions. The meeting voted in favour of a resolution to adopt proxy voting for previously notified written resolutions, giving all members the chance to vote on these in future.
It was also announced that the Association’s complaints procedure will be reviewed. Allan MacDonald has been added to the list as a senior judge in piobaireachd and light music, and Alan Forbes has been made a senior judge in piobaireachd.
The Meeting was followed by a successful seminar on the 2018 Gold Medal tunes. Informative presentations were given, including recordings illustrating different settings.
Editor Robert Wallace writes: ‘Mr MacLellan has his work cut out. Apart from a matter about which, for the moment, I cannot write, he has the unholy mess left him by his predecessor to sort out. The piping world may not be aware of it but the past four years have seen spurious allegations of dishonesty upheld by kangaroo courts and others, more legitimate, conveniently ignored because they didn’t suit the political zeitgeist.
Apart from all of that we have had rulings which effectively allow the Association to censor articles (guess who that was aimed at) and the widely discredited decision to ban judges from judging pupils at Oban, Inverness and London – even when there is a three-man bench and personal integrity at stake. This last, rail roaded through in the most undemocratic manner possible, has of course achieved absolutely nothing, with pupils now refusing to reveal their teachers, judges being more coy than ever about who they are teaching and some giving up on it altogether.
We have had a resignation from the SPJA committee and others on it voicing their concern at having to be involved in witch hunts against their comrades behind the pencil.
The Association has now introduced proxy voting so that those who can’t get to AGMs or special meetings can have a voice, but that won’t extend, as far as I am aware, to the election of office bearers. However it is a start, as is the long overdue review of the complaints procedure.
Mr MacLellan has promised a new dawn now let’s see if he can deliver.
• The picture up top is from 1993 and shows adjudicators Captain Andrew Pitkeathly, Ronald Morrison and Kenny MacDonald presiding at the Argyllshire Gathering.
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