Entry forms for the Scottish Pipers Juvenile contest are now online. The competition takes place at the Piping Centre Otago Street (formerly the College of Piping) on November 8.
It returns after a hiatus of several years and it is hoped that young pipers throughout the country will support it. There are historic trophies on offer. Main sponsors are the Piobaireachd Society and McCallum Bagpipes.
There are eight events for U15 and U18. Pipers cannot play ‘up’. Full Highland dress must be worn. Enter here.
SPA President Logan Tannock: ‘We are delighted to be able to restore our competition for 2025. We are sorry for the late notice but are hopeful that our many budding young solo pipers will support us nevertheless. A huge thank you to our sponsors without whom the competition would not have been possible.’
Scots Guards Knock Out
This begins this Sunday, October 26, in the SG Club, Haymarket, Edinburgh, from 4pm. Tickets are £6 at the door and the club’s renowned pies are on sale at half time.
Top young players signed up, and the dates they will compete, are as follows:
26 October: Arran Green v Liam Nicolson
30 November: Ross Miller v Douglas Baird
25 January: Scott McAskill v Ross Conner
22 February: Brodie Watson-Massey v Thomas Turner
New Rule for Grading
The Competing Pipers Association have issued the following: ‘The CPA has updated its code of conduct to reflect to a motion that was passed at the 2025 AGM in August. The new rule, reads as follows.
‘As a member of the CPA, you are advised that you should only compete in solo piping competitions which use properly accredited adjudicators (be this on a one-person bench or a multiple-bench of judges). If members compete in events in the United Kingdom which do not use judges drawn from the SPJA List, they must be aware that any prizes won at those competitions will be disregarded during the grading process.
‘This rule is to assist the members when they are applying for grading. It protects them and assists the grading committee in applying accurate grades, this in turn gives a more accurate grade and will assist the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern meetings in deciding who is eligible for their competitions.
‘This change has been done in consultation with the SPJA and also reflects their code of conduct and constitution.’
Yet more regulation from the CPA which still doesn’t appear to address the grading of experienced and gifted players as C grade, when it is clear that they are more than capable of playing in a higher grade. The regulations may not affect those performers living in Scotland. However they may tend to disadvantage those who have to travel from other parts of the UK or Ireland (or further afield), for whom the financial consequences may be considerable. I appreciate that the CPA wishes to improve the lot of competing performers, but is it in danger of over regulation when flexibility may be of more benefit to individuals?
One question I have is will this bring more merit to Highland Games results as long as it is SPJA judges? I have seen many good results from lower graded players at Highland Games judged by SPJA judges but they mean absolutely nothing to the grading committee. This would help attendance at the smaller games which a lot of top quality judges still make the effort to judge as players don’t make the effort because it doesn’t matter towards the grading committee.