Saint Thomas’ Episcopal School Pipe Band teaching programme in Texas has a received a major boost following the donation of $500,000 (£360,000) from school benefactors. STE will build a ‘world-class’ Scottish Arts Centre featuring practice rooms for piping and drumming, as well as a recording studio, thanks to the donation from Roy and Judith Shaw. They have agreed to donate up to $500,000 in matching donations to help rebuild its…

Pipers Gary West, Ali Levack, Conal McDonagh and Ewen Henderson will participate in the second Virtual Fèis Rois Weekend at the end of this month with free concerts and workshops. Virtual Fèis Rois Weekend replaces its usual spring residential music events in Ullapool cancelled for the second year running. Organisers say last year’s online events attracted 50,000 views from more than 2,600 participants from 50 countries. The online Fèis this…

The pipers listed below have been been granted entry into the Gold Medal and Silver Medal competitions to be held at the Argyllshire Gathering, Oban, and Northern Meeting, Inverness, on August 25 and September 2. The names were agreed unanimously at the annual Joint Eligibility Committee Meeting attended by representatives of the Northern Meeting, Argyllshire Gathering, the Piobaireachd Society, Competing Pipers Association and the Solo Judges Association. The meeting was…

Yesterday, April 1, was the 40th anniversary of the City of Port Moody Pipe Band under P/M Terry Lee becoming the ‘new’ Simon Fraser University Pipe Band in 1981, writes Rob MacNeil, SFU Band President. We asked Terry to share some brief thoughts and a picture on this significant anniversary that Piping Press readers may finding interesting. Terry writes: ‘It has been a great ride over the 40 years and…

The promoters of the Balmoral Schools in the USA have sent this: ‘Save the Dates – July 18-23! This summer, the Balmoral School of Piping & Drumming will come to you online, with a wider variety of classes, more guest instructors, more one-on-one tutoring, and plenty of other exciting programming. ‘An all-new Drumming Program is in the works, with 2021 guest drumming instructors to be announced shortly.  ‘The fee for…