The 2019 pipe band season got underway yesterday (May 11) at Newtownards Airport in the shadow of Scrabo Tower. Despite a bright and sunny day, a stiff breeze coming off Strangford Lough kept temperatures low. Sponsored by the North Down and Ards Borough Council, all manner of stalls and activities were laid on and this created a family friendly atmosphere which is what these events are all about. It was…

This week marked the founding of the Northern Ireland Branch of the RSPBA 70 years ago. Happy birthday! What a journey it has been. On Saturday 30th April 1949 a meeting took place in Belfast which legendary Northern Ireland pipe band administrator Eddie McVeigh regularly referred to as ‘the best day’s business ever done for piping and drumming in Northern Ireland’. The previous evening three Scottish Pipe Band Association officials, William McLean (President), RC Whitelaw…

The Armagh City Hotel, in the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, was the venue for the much-awaited concert performance by the St Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band on Saturday night 27th April 2019. Due to another engagement I could not be part of the capacity audience of 1,000 who attended. ‘Turas Ceoil Resume – Live in Ireland’ was a rerun of their 2018 pre-Worlds concert held in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall last…

On Saturday last (April 20th) the Lisnagarvey High School was the setting for both the 2019 Ulster Solo Piping and Drumming Championships and the RSPBA NI Branch World Adult Solo Drumming (WSD) qualifier. There was an entry of sixty four pipers, thirty eight side drummers and twenty one tenor drummers with very few drop outs. The adjudicators were Piping: Robert Barnes, Mark Faloon, Rachel Moloney, Harry Stevenson, and Richard Parkes…

Cullybackey College on April 6th was the setting for the 32nd Cullybackey Pipe Band Solo Piping and Drumming Championships which had an entry of eighty three across the twenty one sections. This event has traditionally provided competitors with an opportunity to warm up ahead of the Ulster Solos, which take place on the April 20th, however many of the senior players particularly the drummers didn’t enter as they usually would. This…