World Pipe Band Champions Inveraray and District held a victory march through their home village on Saturday (August 31st).
A large crowd enjoyed sunny weather as they welcomed the band to the Argyllshire tourist hotspot.
Two weeks earlier P/M Stuart Liddell MBE and his pipers and drummers secured their third Worlds title at Glasgow Green triumphing over Northern Ireland’s Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band and other top bands in a high standard Grade 1 contest.
The parade capped a spectacular fortnight for the band and its pipers. Only two days after the Worlds P/M Liddell was crowned Champion Piper at the prestigious Argyllshire Gathering with a second in the Former Winners’ March, Strathspey and Reel and placing third in the Senior Piobaireachd.
In the same contest P/Sgt. Alasdair Henderson placed first in an international field of the world’s top pipers. A week later young piper Brodie Watson-Massey won the Silver Medal at the Northern Meeting in Inverness and placed third in the ‘B’ grade MSR – won by another Inveraray piper, John Dew.
At Inverness P/M Liddell was also among the silverware taking the Former Winners’ MSR title – not forgetting P/Sgt Henderson’s first in the Hornpipe & Jig.
2024 is not a year Inveraray and District and its pipers will forget in a hurry.
- We thank Oban photographer Kevin McGlynn for supplying these pictures.
Chatsworth Piping
This competition was held in Derbyshire on Sunday, September 1. The venue was the 1,000-acre estate surrounding Chatsworth House. The competition is part of the estate’s annual Country Fair.
It attracted a number of pipers from abroad and from north of the border. The weather was fine and the competition was reported to have been very well organised.
Piob (4 tunes):
1 Ed McIlwaine, Blue Ribbon (pictured), £450
2 William Geddes, Lady Margaret MacDonald’s Salute, £330
3 William McCallum, Phantom Piper of the Corrieyairick, £270
4 James MacHattie, Lament for Donald Duaghal MacKay, £210
March: 1 William McCallum 2 Bobby Durning 3 William Geddes 4 Dan Lyden
S&R: 1 William McCallum 2 William Geddes 3 Bobby Durning 4 Andrew Hall
H&J: 1 William McCallum 2 Bobby Durning 3 Andrew Hall 4 William Geddes
6/8: 1 Neil Esselmont 2 William McCallum 3 William Geddes 4 James MacHattie
Prizes in March and S&R: £130, £105, £90, £75
Prizes in H&J and 6/8: £60, £45, £35, £30
The overall winner receives an additional £200 prize.
Judges: R Livingstone, W Wotherspoon
Inveraray’s 3rd World Championship win was impressive and outstanding in the manner in which it was achieved: they were placed first in both overall MSR and Medley events, and finished 22 points clear of second placed FMM in the final summary tables.
In most years, there are usually only a handful of points separating the top 3 bands, so a margin of 22 points leaves no doubt about the high standard of Inveraray’s performances.
They have left the rest behind