By Alistair Aitken OBE, former RSPBA adjudicator The first SPBA Scottish Pipe Band Championships were held in Blairgowrie on 12 June 1948.  As I have mentioned previously on Piping Press, the venue during the 1960s and 1970s was Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh but for the past 20 years the venue has been Levengrove Park in Dumbarton, the event organised by West Dunbartonshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Leisure Trust Events…

By Alistair Aitken OBE, former RSPBA adjudicator This article continues my series providing observations on the 2019 outdoor competition season in the UK as it progresses.  Since my last posting on Piping Press there have been local competitions at Annan in Scotland and Corby in England (the venue for the World Pipe Band Championships in 1975).  There have also been two RSPBA Major Championships – the European Championships at Inverness…

By Alistair Aitken OBE, former RSPBA adjudicator Saturday 15 June saw the second of the RSPBA Major Championships of 2019 (the UK Championships) which this year took place in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. Most readers of Piping Press presumably will know that the UK Pipe Band Championships replaced in 2014 the Championships previously held in Dunoon as part of the famous Cowal Highland Gathering. For the last four years the event has…

This is my second post on Piping Press with some observations and stats about the 2019 UK outdoor pipe band competition as the season progresses. By all reports the weather has not been particularly favourable to the bands at the majority of competitions so far this year. As with Brexit, the early experience of the outdoor season has also shown that ‘politics’ within the pipe band community as ever are never far…

By Alistair Aitken OBE, former RSPBA adjudicator Following a winter and spring with a fairly limited number of indoor pipe band competitions, the 2019 outdoor competition season in the UK commenced over the weekend 11th and 12th May with five competitions, all reportedly encountering favourable weather.  These competitions took place at Dunbar in East Lothian and Ards in Northern Ireland on Saturday 11 May; and Sunday 12 May saw competitions…