London and South of England Solos

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:

1aAdult Amateur March, Strathspey and Reel (12 entries)

1stTom Fleming (East of England P/B)

2ndMax Yeo (City of London P/B)

3rdBilly Wardrope (unattached)

4thHector Munro (City of London P/B)

5th Thomas Randall (Essex Caledonian P/B)



1bAdult Amateur 6/8 March (14 entries)

1stMax Yeo (City of London P/B)

2ndTom Fleming (East of England P/B)

3rdBilly Wardrope (unattached)

4thTom Broderick (Essex Caledonian P/B)

5thJackie Allan (Essex Caledonian P/B)



1cAdult Amateur Piobaireachd Ground (6 entries)

1stHector Munro (City of London P/B)

2ndNeil Scotland (unattached)

3rdTom Fleming (East of England P/B)



1dAdult Amateur Full Piobaireachd (7 entries)

1stNeil Scotland (unattached)

2ndBilly Wardrope (unattached)

3rdDagmar Pesta (unattached)



2aAdult Open MSR

1stSteve Watterston (Essex Caledonian P/B)

2ndStephen Cussens (City of London P/B)



2bAdult Open Full Piobaireachd

1stStephen Cussens (City of London P/B)

2ndSteve Watterston (Essex Caledonian P/B)



2cAdult Open H&J

1stSteve Watterston (Essex Caledonian P/B)

2ndStephen Cussens (City of London P/B)

1 thought on “London and South of England Solos

  1. 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!

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