Russell Gault: ‘I found the article Creagorry Blend, Lachie Bàn MacCormack and P/M William MacLean very interesting [read it here].
‘I am a descendant of P/M Willie MacLean. His father, Archibald, of Raasay, was also a piper and hotelier at the Creagorry Inn, Benbecula.
‘There are still some extremely rare bottles of ‘Old Highland Malt Whisky’ produced by Archibald MacLean (presumably in the 1890s and early 1900s) to be found in specialist collections.
‘I like to think this reel, Creagorry Blend, was a tribute to that whisky. I note that the sheet music above lacks the fourth part. If anyone can find it, I’d be very grateful.
‘In the meantime, I found a recording of the full tune on track six of the album, ‘The Piping Centre – 1996 Recital – Willie Morrison and Dr Angus MacDonald’.
Editor: Here is the tune Russell. For some reason it had been deleted from the original article mentioned above. There is also a field recording of it on the Tobar an Dualchais website played by Neil MacLennan and recorded by folklorist Francis Collinson. Access it here.
My copy attributes the tune to Lachie Bàn but Calum MacLean in his research for the School of Scottish Studies credits it to William MacLean, a relative off his. (See original article.)
Muirhead & Sons
Albert Krawinkel reacting to our obituary ‘Leading Drummer Robert Turner 1944 – 2019’: ‘I joined Muirhead & Sons as a junior piper in 1969 under Pipe Major Bob Hardie.
‘I had kept pestering him to let me join the band – which thankfully he eventually did. I remember Rab Turner with fond memories. I can also remember Pipe Sgt. Davie Hutton, Jimmy, Peter and Tam Anderson, the Elmslie brothers Ronnie and Dougie, John Finlay, Robert Wallace and many more whose names I forget.’
Editor: On receiving Albert’s message I contacted him telling him that I remembered him and that Bob Hardie had thought highly of his playing.
Albert responded: ‘It was a nice surprise when I came across your email this morning. My memory is a bit vague but in the beginning I was playing with the East Kilbride Pipe Band and I can’t remember how it happened but I asked Bob if I could join Muirheads.
‘I must have played something for him and he must have seen something. In the beginning I went up his house in Bishopbriggs every now and then, and I then went with yourself to the band in Grangemouth.
‘There was another guy, who was a traffic warden or something [Hugh MacInnes], and did John Finlay go as well? Anyway we all fitted in to Bob’s car. I can remember after our practice he would stop at the Dutch Inn and have his whisky; imagine that nowadays!
‘Another thing I remember was on the way to the Worlds at Aberdeen we stayed at a place called Muchalls. When the band was having a warm up the next day Bob Hardie shouted out loudly, scolding Robert Richardson in front of everyone for letting his mind wander off the tune.
‘As you probably know I had an accident in September 1970 and never managed to return my fingers to the way they were. I could hardly lift my G finger and I thought there was no point continuing.
‘I often wonder how things might have turned out had I not gone to work that day and had the mishap. Anyway, I hope you’re still playing and nice to hear from you. Regards Albert Krawinkel.’
A superb digital book of pipe music… click on pic to order
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