Coming directly after the Argyllshire Gathering and before the Northern Meeting, and being indoors, guarantees that this event is always oversubscribed in the B/C division, writes the Editor.
In the B/C piobaireachd, capped at 20, 18 played. Twenty-six entered the B/C light music and 23 played. The venue is the splendid Highland Cinema and its piazza right on Fort William main street. It is given courtesy its owner and founder, Angus MacDonald OBE, the local MP and a man who continues to do much for the town and the local area.
Ken and Rona Cameron and their Lochaber team really do run a very slick operation. Starting at 9am sharp we were all packed off home by 5.45pm.
The prizes at this Gathering are among the best in Scotland. Winners leave bejewelled with gold and silver as you can see from the pictures. Results:
P/A Piobaireachd for the Gold Lochaber Axe Kilt Pin
1 Sandy Cameron, Old Men of the Shells
2 Cameron MacDougall
3 James MacHattie, Canada
4 William Rowe, NZ
P/A MSR for the Robin Fleming Lochaber Gathering Medal
Two of each tune required with pipers having to submit a march with a Lochaber connection
1 Liam Kernaghan, NZ
2 Cameron MacDougall
3 Sandy Cameron
4 James MacHattie
Best Strathspey & Reel Award: Andrew Donlon, USA
B/C Piobaireachd for the Silver Lochaber Axe Kilt Pin
1 Alistair Brown, Clanranald’s Salute
2 Ross Conner, Lament for the Castle of Dunyveg
3 Andrew Smith, Rout of the Lowland Captain
4 John McDonald, Melbank’s Salute
B/C MSR, Clydesdale Bank Cup
1 Angus MacPhee
2 John McDonald
3 David Stulpner, Australia
4 Ross Conner
6/8 March (held outdoors): 1 Scott MacLean 2 Cameron MacDougall 3 Sandy Cameron
H&J (held outdoors): 1 Sandy Cameron 2 Cameron MacDougall 3 William Rowe
15&U Piob: 1 Hugh Anderson 2 Charlie Mack 3 Seonnaidh Forrest 4 Sam de Vries
15&U March: 1 Charlie Mack 2 Hugh Anderson 3 Morla Bruce 4 Alasdair Bullock
15&U S&R: 1 Hugh Anderson 2 Seonnaidh Forrest 3 Charlie Mack 4 Lily Robertson
15&U Jig: 1 Seonnaidh Forrest 2 Charlie Mack 3 Mark Hewitt 4 Sam de Vries
Youngest Competitor: Alasdair Bullock
16-18 Piob: 1 Fraser Hamilton 2 Arran Green 3 Fergus Dorrington 4 Christopher Drummond
16-18 March: 1 Arran Green 2 Christopher Drummond 3 Fraser Hamilton 4 Fergus Dorrington
16-18 S&R: 1 Arran Green 2 Fraser Hamilton 3 Christopher Drummond 4 Douglas Baird
16-18 Jig: 1 Fraser Hamilton 2 Arran Green 3 Christopher Drummond 4 Fergus Dorrington
Alan Forbes and I judged the B/C Piobaireachd and the P/A MSR. We were unanimous in our list and particularly pleased to witness a return to form of Alistair Brown, Kyleakin, a boy champion now returning to the piping fold in adulthood. His Clanranald’s Salute was perfectly set out on a steady pipe with crisp technique. He certainly could have done more with variation 1, but a fine tune nevertheless.
Pleasing too it was to witness young lifeboatman Ross Conner, Campbeltown, swaggering through Dunyveg. Only one or two technical blemishes marred this performance on what was perhaps the best bagpipe of the day. Another south-west Ross man, Andrew Smith, skelped along with the Lowland Captain just as you should – a suspicious hiharin and a failure to ground the D throw at times marred the technique.
John MacDonald, the 2024 Oban Silver Medallist, played Melbank’s Salute. He didn’t quite lock the pipe and there was a fumble on an E echo. He over-emphasised the connecting note in Variation 1 and the triplet pauses need to be subtly done.
Of the others, there were good passages of play from Gordon Barclay, Alastair Murray, Cameron MacLeod, Bobby Durning, Jonathan Quay, David Stulpner and Scott MacLean, but each was hampered either by a memory lapse, pipes going off, interpretational unpleasantries, or technical failings when executing the basic piobaireachd movements crunluath, hiharin, darodo, fosgailte, chedari and embari. Pipers forget sometimes that these movements must be accurate and rhythmical if they are not to detract from the melody. Merely getting the correct gracenotes in the correct order doesn’t cut it. These failings are not confined to the B/C grade I might add.
In the P/A MSR, Liam Kernaghan gave a polished rendition of Lochaber Gathering, Dora MacLeod and the Champion Piper. Clean playing from Cameron MacDougall for second – less cutting of the short notes improved things; Sandy Cameron had a habit of bringing in the birls before the beat in the part endings of Captain Carswell and the throws on D weren’t always grounded, but a good third prize.
Overall an excellent day of piping and as Angus MacDonald said in his closing remarks, the al fresco music can only have enhanced the experience of the tourists thronging the Fort’s main street.
Judges: I Duncan, A Duthie, A Forbes, DJ MacIntyre, JD MacKenzie, D Murray, M Robertson, R Wallace
- Lochaber Gathering 2024, held in the Highland Cinema, Fort William, on August 23. Promoted by the Lochaber Piping Society, President Mr Ken Cameron, with sponsorship from the Moidart Trust, the Mackintosh Foundation, the PF Charitable Trust and Bidwells LLP.
