A recital headlining Champion Piper Stuart Liddell is to be held early next year. The venue is Airdrie Working Men’s Club in Lanarkshire. The date is Friday, February 13.
Supporting Stuart will be Cameron May, and a quartet from 16 times World Champions, Shotts & Dykehead.
By Dan Nevans
The recital is entitled ‘The Peter MacLeod Senior Memorial Recital’. Peter MacLeod Sr., originally from the island of Lewis, was Pipe Major of the 1st/ 7th Battalion of the Lanarkshire regiment, The Cameronians, during WWI.
The organisers, myself, Connor Jardine and Cameron May, reckon Peter Sr. was the most influential composer connected with the regiment and the county, and well worthy of being celebrated with a memorial recital.
We hope it will become an annual event which will help raise the profile and support for piping in the county of Lanarkshire and further afield..
The evening’s featured recitalist will be the supreme champion at Oban and Inverness 2025, Stuart Liddell MBE, Pipe Major of the current World Champions, Inveraray.
Supporting Stuart will be Cameron May, an A grade solo piper, and Pipe Sergeant of Lanarkshire’s own Coalburn I.O.R pipe band, plus a quartet from 16-time World Pipe Band Champions, Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia. The event will open at 7pm with a 7:30pm stage time.
Peter MacLeod Senior was born in Aird Uig, Lewis, in December 1878. He came to Glasgow around 1900 and likely joined the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers around this time too. The 3rd L.R.V. won the World Pipe Band Championships in 1907, and Peter Senior would have been a member of this band.
In 1908, the 3rd L.R.V. became the 7th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). When the First World War broke out, Peter Senior was appointed Pipe Major of the 7th (Reserve) Battalion of the Cameronians. He led the battalion’s pipe band and was responsible for training pipers for service at the front.
After the war he worked as a shipwright at Connells, the Scotstoun-based shipbuilder on the Clyde, until 1927, when he lost part of his right leg at in an accident. He was a prolific composer, his classic tunes including the 2/4 marches The Conundrum and Hugh Kennedy, the reels John Morrison, Assynt House, and Major Manson, and the 6/8 Pipe Major Sam Scott. His son, Peter Jr., was also an outstanding composer with the jig, The Blue Lagoon, the strathspey Dora MacLeod and the 6/8 Ballochyle among his many popular tunes.
Recital tickets are £20 (£15 OAPs/ U16s) available here. Airdrie Working Men’s Social Club directions here. Read more about Peter MacLeod in our Famous Pipers column here.
Classic Strathspeys & Reels – Vol. 1 (A – F)
Some of the all time great competition strathspeys and reels are listed here. Each is played in full on the practice chanter by Robert Wallace. Firstly he goes through the tune very slowly at a practice tempo and then he plays it a little more quickly, closer to performance speed. Download your tune and then try playing along. If the tune you need is not listed email <a href="mailto:pipingpress…
