By the summer of 2020, it had become clear that there would not be any chance of outdoor piping contests. In order to keep the flame alive and provide an incentive for continuing to practice, the London and South of England Branch of the RSPBA (which covers nearly half the geographical area of England and S Wales) decided to hold a Solo Online contest for both adults and juveniles.
By Jackie Allan
In October last year 49 pipers and 4 drummers entered 104 events (51 juvenile, 53 adult). There was a huge amount of positive feedback from the participants who appreciated both the opportunity to play and the constructive critique sheets from our solo piping judges Roddy Livingstone and Hugh Jamieson and our drumming judge Gordon Craig.
Along the way, many lessons were learned on data management, file transfer systems and YouTube channels.
A second Adult Online contest has just been held, with 22 pipers, mostly from our local bands sending in 45 videos for the four Amateur and three Open events.
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Sadly, drummers appear to be a shy breed and there were no entrants. The results were as follows and links to the performances are available off the RSPBA London and South of England website at http://rspbalondon.bravesites.com/
Watch Neil Scotland’s winning performance in the Amateur piobaireachd:
| 1a | Adult Amateur March, Strathspey and Reel (12 entries) | |
| 1st | Tom Fleming (East of England P/B) | |
| 2nd | Max Yeo (City of London P/B) | |
| 3rd | Billy Wardrope (unattached) | |
| 4th | Hector Munro (City of London P/B) | |
| 5th | Thomas Randall (Essex Caledonian P/B) | |
| 1b | Adult Amateur 6/8 March (14 entries) | |
| 1st | Max Yeo (City of London P/B) | |
| 2nd | Tom Fleming (East of England P/B) | |
| 3rd | Billy Wardrope (unattached) | |
| 4th | Tom Broderick (Essex Caledonian P/B) | |
| 5th | Jackie Allan (Essex Caledonian P/B) | |
| 1c | Adult Amateur Piobaireachd Ground (6 entries) | |
| 1st | Hector Munro (City of London P/B) | |
| 2nd | Neil Scotland (unattached) | |
| 3rd | Tom Fleming (East of England P/B) | |
| 1d | Adult Amateur Full Piobaireachd (7 entries) | |
| 1st | Neil Scotland (unattached) | |
| 2nd | Billy Wardrope (unattached) | |
| 3rd | Dagmar Pesta (unattached) | |
| 2a | Adult Open MSR | |
| 1st | Steve Watterston (Essex Caledonian P/B) | |
| 2nd | Stephen Cussens (City of London P/B) | |
| 2b | Adult Open Full Piobaireachd | |
| 1st | Stephen Cussens (City of London P/B) | |
| 2nd | Steve Watterston (Essex Caledonian P/B) | |
| 2c | Adult Open H&J | |
| 1st | Steve Watterston (Essex Caledonian P/B) | |
| 2nd | Stephen Cussens (City of London P/B) |
What I miss greatly about not having in person competitions is the opportunity to hear wonderful pipers and drummers. You can usually find a few competitors on youtube, but it’s hit or miss.
Thank you for posting the Adult Online contest videos!