RSPBA NI Branch Administrator Retires and Replacement Named 

These last few months has seen change within the NI Branch with the retirement of Ian Burrows from his administrator role and the appointment of Michelle Shilliday as his replacement. Ian, who gave nine years of dedicated service, had succeeded Lindsey Ellis who resigned from her position in 2012 when she relocated to Scotland. Indeed Ian would actually have stepped down in September 2020 as announced by the RSPBANI Executive…

Northern Ireland Pipe Band Round-Up: Parades, Contests and Exhibitions Keep Tradition Alive

Over here in Northern Ireland the traditional parading season will wind down over the next month. On Saturday the 28th August the parades of the Royal Black Institution took place on a local basis. These parades have traditionally featured a significant proportion of our pipe bands, many of which will take their autumn break before resuming winter practices, and in most cases the tuition of learner classes supported by grants…

Northern Ireland Pipe Band Festival Heading for a Sell Out/ Province Stages Live Outdoor Solo Piping and Drumming

When the RSPBA NI Branch abandoned their contest programme they resolved to hold a series of Pipe Band Festivals and they get underway this Saturday, 7th August, with the Antrim & Newtownabbey Pipe Band Festival. It will take place at the Antrim Castle Gardens and it is supported by the local council and will feature bands, drum majors and Highland dancers performing under the RSPBA’s jurisdiction for the first time…

Northern Ireland’s Pipe Bands Return to Action

Toward the end of May 2021 the NI Executive announced that bands could undertake static outdoor practices (although no singing was allowed) and this was embraced enthusiastically by the majority of the country’s seven hundred bands. Week by week individual bands or band forums were showing photographs of bands at practice in all sorts of environments from car parks to farm yards in order to stick to the rules. Pipe…

The Final Chapter in the History of Ireland’s Famous Fintan Lalor Pipe Band

Pipe Major Finbarr Connolly, who hailed from Cork, was the first non-Dubliner to lead the band when he succeeded Pipe Major Tim J Keogh in 1976. P/M Connolly held the post for over two decades during which time the band would appear to have experienced considerable ups and downs. They competed regularly in Grade 2 and would often play up in the Open Grade competing against bands such as the…