Author: Duncan Watson

History: The Northern Meeting 1949

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I have in my possession four pages from an old Northern Meeting programme for 1949. The pages are for Day 1 only. Above is a picture of Andrew Pitkeathly, the winner of the Gold Medal that year. Twenty-four entered the Medal, but whether they all played I am not sure. The programme was given to me by the late Dr James Finlayson who was a Consultant Physician at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary….

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Revisiting the Past: 2/4 Marches and a Letter from Archibald Campbell

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Until the advent of recordings, music was ephemeral. Performances faded from memory, save for occasional outstanding examples imprinted on our minds. Memories become clouded in time, however.  Historic recordings can remind us of what we heard in the past. I am old enough to detect that march playing has arguably deteriorated, even at the highest level.  I can assure readers this is not just a personal view – it is shared…

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John Macdonald, Inverness, and a Chanter Gifted by Major Manson

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This story has a starting date. It seems that John Macdonald MBE (Inverness) was presented with a pipe chanter in 1942, some 81 years ago. He was about 76 years of age at the time and would have ceased playing in competition. I don’t know why he was presented with the chanter. Perhaps piping historians have the information. He was awarded the MBE in 1932 and died in 1953. Enter…

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Gordon Castle, Fochabers, Results

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Thirteen played in the adult competitions. Eight played in the various junior competitions. The weather was cool and remained dry. The competition boards were rather close to each other and this caused the bagpipe sound to be slightly adversely affected, but nevertheless the playing generally was very good. Of course it is always a danger at games venues that there will be extraneous sounds. It is to the credit of the…

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Interesting Photograph of the Australian Ladies

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I came across the above photograph in a book and thought it might be of interest to readers. It is of the Australian Ladies Pipe Band when they visited the Braemar Gathering in 1926 as part of their world tour. One of the purposes of the tour was to raise funds for ex-servicemen from WW1 and the Ladies were sponsored by Sir Harry Lauder and his wife who of course…

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