One of the busiest junior competitions of the year took place yesterday at Calderhead High School, Shotts, Lanarkshire. Run by the World Championship winning Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band, the event attracted over 185 young pipers and drummers. The picture above shows some of the earlier class winners.
I spent most of the afternoon at the competition and it was very well organised, even with the large entry, the school an excellent facility, writes the editor. The promoters were well served by some of our leading professional pipers who acted as judges. These included, Bill Geddes, Peter Hunt, Gordon McCready, Darach Urquhart, Graham Drummond and Alasdair Henderson.
Listening to the Under 15 Piobaireachd, there was an outstanding performance for one so young from Andrew Ferguson of Dollar Academy. His performance of the Earl of Ross’s March was mature, well controlled – and the bagpipe not far from professional standard. Andrew is clearly one to watch and a credit to his teachers who I presume to be Dollar instructors Matt Wilson and Callum Beaumont.
Poor pipes and poor memory affected the performances of the other youngstersin this event but it would be wrong to expect too much at this early stage of their development as soloists. The importabnt thing is that they are studying ceol mor, learned their tunes and put themselves forward for the competition.
EVENT 1 Chanter Age 18 and Under Slow Air (Two Parts)
Sponsored by: Maverick
1 Fraser Smith
2 Finn Gilmour
3 Lloyd Ferguson
4 Erin Allison
EVENT 2 Chanter Age 18 and Under March (2 Parts)
Sponsored by: Canning Reedmakers
1 Fraser Smith
2 Christopher Drummond
3 Harrison Bishop
4 Finn Gilmour
5 Erin Allison
6 Rachel Donald
EVENT 3 Piping Age 13 and Under 2/4 March
Sponsored by: Wallace Bagpipes
1 Nicholas Knowles
2 Bobby Allen
3 Richard Kneen
4 Adam Dandie
5 Donald Morris
6 Jack Smith
EVENT 3 A Piping Age 13 and Under Strathspey and Reel
Sponsored by: Wallace Bagpipes
1 Bobby Allen
2 Nicholas Knowles
3 Cameron May
4 Joshua Reilly
5 Jack Smith
6 Christie Mcnab
EVENT 4 Piping Age 15 and Under 2/4 March (Minimum 4 parts)
Sponsored by: Wallace Bagpipes
1 Christopher Happs
2 Andrew Ferguson
3 Ross Connor
4 Luke Kennedy
5 Ruairidh Brown
6 Brodie Watson-Massey
EVENT 4A Piping Age 15 and Under Strathspey and Reel
Sponsored by: Wallace Bagpipes
1 Christopher Happs
2 Andrew Ferguson
3 Brodie Watson-Massey
4 Ross Connor
5 Ruairidh Brown
6 Luke Kennedy
EVENT 5 Piping Age 15 and Under Ground of Piobaireachd
Sponsored by: Wallace Bagpipes
1 Joshua Reilly
2 Evan Hawkins
3 Donald Morris
4 Bobby Allen
5 Gregor Grierson
6 Ryan McCreadie
EVENT 6 Piping Age 15 and Under Piobaireachd
Sponsored by: David Naill – First prize won a David Naill Silver Practice Chanter
1 Andrew Ferguson
2 Cialan Kellett
3 Luke Kennedy
4 Emma Hill
5 Ross Connor
6 Cameron May
EVENT 7 Piping Age 18 and Under 2/4 March (Minimum 4 parts)
Sponsored by: Maverick and Canning Reedmakers
1 Finlay Cameron
2 Angus Macphee
3 Robbie MacIsaac
4 Ben Muir
5 Lewis Russell
6 Callum Davidson
EVENT 7A Piping Age 18 and Under Strathspey and Reel
Sponsored by: Canning Reedmakers and Trap-Dri
1 Finlay Cameron
2 Angus Macphee
3 Robbie MacIsaac
4 Luke Shearer
5 Ben Muir
6 John. A. McLaren
EVENT 8 Piping Age 18 and Under Piobaireachd
Sponsored by: Canning Reedmakers and Trap-Dri
1 John. A. McLaren
2 Finlay Cameron
3 Lewis Russell
EVENT 9 Snare, Stick and Pad Age 15 and Under March
Sponsored by: Stephen Creighton in conjunction with Promark and Evans
1 Jason Hendry
2 Andrew Black
3 Oliver Burbury
4 Ewan Jeffrey
EVENT 11 Snare Drumming Age 15 and Under March (4 parts)
Sponsored by: Stephen Creighton in conjunction with Promark and Evans
1 Caitlyn Malloy
2 Callum Kyle
3 Mark Bathgate
4 Archie Jaffrey-Smith
5 Niamh McCreadie
6 Luke Cunningham
EVENT 12 Snare Drumming Age 15 and Under MSR
Sponsored by: Stephen Creighton in conjunction with Promark and Evans
1 Kerr McQuillan
2 James Strachan
3 Ewan McDonald
4 Lachlan Kyle
5 Rachel Fairley
6 Fergus Kyle
EVENT 13 Snare Drumming Age 18 and Under March (8 parts)
Sponsored by: Stephen Creighton in conjunction with Promark and Evans
1 Adam McMillan
2 Ross Stevenson
EVENT 14 Snare Drumming Age 18 and Under MSR
Sponsored by: Stephen Creighton in conjunction with Promark and Evans
1 Thomas Barnes
2 Rachel Thom
3 Alex Faulds
4 Lewis Connell
EVENT 15 Tenor Age 15 and Under March (4 parts)
Sponsored by: Ace Percussion; Additional event sponsor: Flourish
1 Fiona McCall
2 Lynsey Merrilees
3 Aimee Reid
4 Hannah McIntyre
EVENT 16 Tenor Age 18 and Under March, Strathspey & Reel
Sponsored by: Ace Percussion; Additional event sponsor: Flourish
1 Emily Davidson
2 Abby Johnston
3 Morgan Lynch
4 Mia Googe
Winner of the John K MacAllister Memorial Trophy for the Best Overall 15 Years and Under Piper, winning a set of Fred Morrison small pipes donated by McCallum Bagpipes: Andrew Ferguson
Winner of the Tom McAllister Jnr Memorial Trophy for the Best Overall 18 and Under Piper, winning a set of Armstrong ABM4a Bagpipes: Finlay Cameron
Winner of the Robert Clark Memorial Trophy donated by Billy Price in honour of his grandfather, and a voucher from the National Piping Centre: Finlay Cameron
[wds id=”2″]
The contest blurb reads ‘This being the fourth year of the annual event, we hope to welcome an even larger number of youngsters to North Lanarkshire, to compete in a range of categories including chanter, piping, stick and pad, snare and tenor. The competition reflects Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band’s commitment to supporting youngsters in the pipe band community, and the event is organised in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council.’
