Editor’s Notebook: Cowal Gathering/ Solo Judging/ Clan MacRae Comment/ New Year

Yesterday’s story on the founding of the SPBA mentioned the current relationship between pipe bands and Cowal Games. Correspondent Ian Forbes sums things up well:

‘The demise of the Cowal Pipe Band Championships is an historic and cultural tragedy in the world of piping.

‘From 1906 and for over 40 years, Dunoon hosted the ‘unofficial’ world pipe band championships, as part of the Cowal Highland Gathering. Hundreds of  thousands of visitors from Glasgow and the West of Scotland would regularly attend each year, typically as a day trip ‘doon the watter’.

‘In 1947 the World Pipe Band Championships was taken over by the SPBA, however Cowal continued to thrive and flourish as a major event in the pipe band world. The killer blow to the Cowal Gathering was to lose its RSPBA Championship status in 2013, after which the situation has deteriorated year by year.

‘Thus, in the last few years Cowal has not held a Grade 1 competition, and Grade 2 is largely sustained by Grade 3 bands ‘playing up’.

‘Many of us have fond and treasured memories of playing in pipe bands at Cowal and listening to the great Grade 1 bands of the day playing down the road with the amazing trophies (Muirheads, Glasgow Polis, Shotts).

‘For many of the older generation of pipers and drummers, competing at Cowal was one of the highlights of the pipe band calendar, and on a par with attending the Worlds.

‘Cowal was also the event where many of the great Irish bands made their initial breakthrough onto the prize list, including Robert Armstrong Memorial [pictured top], St Patrick’s, Donaghmore, Fintan Lalor, and even FMM’s first top prize I believe was at Cowal.  

‘It is a sad reflection that the RSPBA and the Cowal Organising Committee have not been able to come to some amicable arrangement about re-establishing a major pipe band competition at Cowal.’

It seems to me that the management at Cowal are only interested in pipe bands as some sort of aural backwash Ian, Highland dancing their main interest. It’s a bit like Highland games who cancel their solo piping contests and hire a duty band for sound effects. Unfortunately, until there is new management at Cowal, nothing is going to change.

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Solo Judging
Following last week’s ‘Notebook’ we received this further anonymous comment on the judging of solo piping: ‘Does it really matter, or make a difference, if a judge is a member of the Solo Piping Judges Association or not, or a manufacturer or not, as long as they are truthful in the results they provide?

‘I have seen many competitors and audiences scratching their heads going ‘where did they get that result from?’ The scratching of the heads comes from poor results, mainly by SPJA judges selected at top level competitions.

‘I personally feel solo piping is marching into a very dangerous time where they’ll only have a few qualified judges to pick from, and major competitions, and certainly Highland games, are going to suffer greatly.‘

Firstly given the delicate nature of this issue, I can understand why comments are coming in anonymously (this one was signed JW).

Secondly, there are errors and differences of opinion every year in piping and pipe band competition. It is in the subjective nature of the beast. And remember, often judges are far closer to the action than someone sitting in the audience.

Thirdly, promoters of the top events are well aware of the need for ‘horses for courses’. The SPJA does have graded lists of its member judges which I’m sure these promoters use when making up their benches.

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Comments
A few readers have had difficulty in posting via our comments section. Iain Duncan, Paisley, is one, and instead forwarded his to me at editor@pipingpress.com. Please do the same if you are having similar trouble. We’re looking at the problem.

Iain was replying to this comment from Eric McKimmon on the history of the Clan MacRae Society Pipe Band: ‘Hello Ian, Thanks for this series on the Clan MacRae. The pipers named in 1928 include John and George Birnie. This wouldn’t per chance be a misspelling? Would the names have been Barnie? I know of John Barnie (1875-1951) a native of Caithness who was a piper with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. This question may be totally wide of the mark. All appreciated.’

Iain: ‘Apologies for my tardy response to your enquiry Eric. Just to be thorough, I’ve checked back on my various sources and can confirm that the correct surname is Birnie, as included in the personnel list in the serialisation, and by the signatures on the framed, presentation scroll for Pipe Major William Fergusson. Thanks for the query and I hope this clears the matter up for you.’

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Happy New Year
I hope everyone has an enjoyable Hogmanay and Ne’erday. All the best for 2026 to our readers, advertisers, writers and commentators. We’ll be back on Monday January 5th.

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