The Piobaireachd Society’s Annual Conference has been switched to a new venue following a fire at a hotel in Perth.
A blaze in the kitchen has forced the temporary closure of the Royal George Hotel, the home for the conference for the past four years.
The new venue for 2026 is the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling. All arrangements, meals, rooms etc. are as per the Royal George. The conference takes place later this month from March 27-29.
The Golden Lion is a well equipped traditional hotel with good car parking and close access to buses and trains. Check out the facilities here.
Society President Robert Wallace said: ‘We were very sorry to hear of the situation at the Royal George, a warm and welcoming venue for the Conference in the recent past.
‘Our committee moved quickly to secure an alternative venue at the Golden Lion and I would like to thank everyone for their efforts. The Golden Lion is an ideal alternative.’
The Conference is open to everyone including non-members. Book via the PS website here. Formal events begin on Saturday 28th March and day visits are available for £20 (includes lunch):
Talk 1: 9.30 – 10.15am: ‘The Origins of Piobaireachd’ – Hugh Cheape, Peter McCalister
Talk 2: 10.45 – 11.30am: ‘The Life and Music of Bill Livingstone’ – Michael Grey
Talk 3: 1.30 – 2.15pm: ‘Let Piobaireachd Flourish’ – John Mulhearn
Talk 4: 2.45 – 3.30pm: ‘100 Years of the Piobaireachd Society Collection’ – Jack Taylor, John Frater
A piobaireachd ceilidh will follow at 4-6pm with our black tie dinner 7 for 7.30pm. Three young champion pipers, Eala Niamh McElhinney, Andrew Pattison and Arran Brown will entertain after the dinner, each playing an MSR and a piobaireachd.
- Anyone with any queries about the change of venue should contact PS Honorary Secretary Ben Duncan on secretary@piobaireachd.co.uk .
Gesto Collection – Transliterated by P/M W MacLean
This is a dowloadable copy of the 1910 work transliterated from the Gesto Canntaireachd by P/M William MacLean, Kilcreggan. He has taken the canntaireachd and interpreted it in such a way as to provide us with scores of tunes in settings that are eminently playable by today’s pipers. There is a fulsome introduction and you can read more about the pipe major here. This volume is offered as a pipingpress.com service and is taken from a copy of the original…
