The George Watson’s College Invitational Competition held on 3rd March at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, writes Ben Duncan.
With close to 130 solo and 20 band performances, it made for a healthy day of piping and drumming at Watson’s.
The events were judged by RSPBA adjudicators John Nevans, Alvis Kerr, Gordon Lawrie, Alex Dudgeon and Stuart Coils. George Heriot’s were triumphant in the Senior Bands, with Dollar winning the Intermediate and Watson’s the Junior Bands events.
A great day had by all and an encouraging amount of young talented musicians on display. Results:
Junior Bands: 1 George Watson’s College 2 High School of Dundee 3 Merchiston Castle ‘A’
Intermediate Bands: 1 Dollar Academy 2 George Heriot’s 3 Erskine Stewart’s Melville
Senior Bands: 1 George Heriot’s 2nd George Watson’s 3rd Preston Lodge High
13 and under Piping: 1 Lorne McIntyre, George Heriot’s 2 Toby Chapman, Dollar Academy 3 Archie Leonard, George Heriot’s 4 Murray Perks, George Watson’s 5 Lochie Scott, Erskine Stewart’s Melville 6 Rory Forbes, George Watson’s
15 and under Piping: 1 Max McGill, George Watson’s 2nd Charlie Mack, Preston Lodge HS 3rd Rory Menzies, Strathallan School 4th Thomas Edgar, George Heriot’s 5th Ben Mcgaugie, Dollar Academy 6 William Muirhead, George Watson’s
18 and under Piping: 1 Paul Mackay, Dollar Academy 2 Harry Turner, Strathallan School 3 Thomas Fallon, Erskine Stewart’s Melville 4 Jamie Crawford, Preston Lodge HS 5 Tom Ferguson, Preston Lodge HS 6 Lyle Maciver, George Watson’s
14 and under Drumming: 1 James Parrack, George Watson’s 2 Max Macari, George Watson’s 3 Fraser Pearce, Dollar Academy 4 Ryan Shi, George Heriot’s 5 Ga Yeon Oh, George Heriot’s 6 Niamh McGuire, Dollar Academy
18 and under Drumming: 1 Dylan Gillespie, George Heriot’s 2nd Ailsa Brodie, George Heriot’s 3rd Emily Hough, High School of Dundee 4 Michael Rynn, George Watson’s 5th Freddie Somerville, George Watson’s 6th Tom Dixon, George Watson’s
Redding, California Contest
Charles Martin reports: The 13th Annual Redding Bagpipe Competition in California was a great success with near-record turnout despite terrible weather for travel.
The highlight for the event was the large Grade 1 entry of nine. This year’s G1 aggregate winner is, Malachi Johannsen who qualifies to play in the Sandy Jones Memorial Amateur Championship at the November 9th Sun Belt Invitational and joins Katherine Miller who qualified at the Central Florida Games. This young man started competing at ‘The Redding’ in 2018 as a Grade 4. He has quickly risen through the ranks and reached Grade 1 status in 2023.
Photo Credit: Patty Hood Photography. Full results here:
