The first George Watson’s College competition for the ‘Ceritas Banner’ was held at the Edinburgh school yesterday, November 26. Organiser P/M Ben Duncan reported: ‘It was a fantastic day of piobaireachd with some really encouraging performances across all events.
‘Fifty-two entered making for a healthy day of competition. The event was sponsored by the Piobaireachd Society, Kintail Bagpipes and our Watsonian community. We plan to hold next year’s Caritas Banner on Sunday 24th November 2024; please save the date!’
The Caritas Banner – 18 & Under Piobaireachd (2 tunes)
1 Lyle MacIver (winning the Banner, Purdie Quaich and David Glen Silver Practice Chanter)
2 Gregor Grierson 3 Arran Green 4 Thomas Fallon 5 Kenzie Philliban 6 Henry Kesterton
Judges: Iain Speirs, Euan Anderson
14 & Under Piobaireachd
1 Ross Aitchison (Winning the Purdie Quaich & Kintail Bagpipe Skinz pipe case)
2 Lorne McIntyre 3 Lachlan Rennie 4 Joseph Townsley 5 Gregor Cohen 6 Owen McCreadie
Judges: Alan Forbes, Andrew Frater
14 & Under Urlar
1 Alexander Townsley 2 Ran Birch 3 Eva Mouton-Sinclair 4 William Muirhead 5 Robbie McCall 6 Magnus Cooper; Judges: Derek Fraser, Alasdair Henderson
Scots Guards KO
More excellent piping was heard on the same day at the Scots Guards Club in Haymarket, Edinburgh, at the latest round of the popular Scots Guards Knock Out, writes the Editor.
Competing pipers were two of the best of our young professional, Angus MacPhee and Brodie Watson-Massey. Each played for 30 minutes before a large crowd. MC P/M Jimmy Banks MBE announced the winner as Brodie. It must have been an extremely close call.
Both pipers displayed some nerves but settled down to give dazzlingly displays of finger work on well tuned pipes. Both included a piobaireachd ground and this contrasted nicely with the kitchen piping. Angus (left) and Brodie are pictured at the SG Club yesterday.
The next heat is at the same venue on January 28th when Sandy Cameron and Chris McLeish will be the competitors. That heat is followed by Cameron May v Luke Kennedy on February 25th.
