This short piece recalls the grand old days of BBC piping broadcasts. It is taken from the Radio Times of 1957. Headlined ‘Broadcasting from Scotland – The Big Music of the Pipes’, it features the late Ronald Morrison. The caption to the picture above reads ‘Piper Ronald Morrison from South Uist, making his first broadcast, plays ‘MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart’ in the Scottish Home Service’. The accompanying article reads.. Only a minority…

The US’s Balmoral School of Piping and Drumming is offering a weekend-long Winter Workshop for Pipers and Drummers, February 19-21, 2021, for a fee of $275USD. The promotional material reads: ‘Students who refer new students to us will receive $50 off the price of the Workshop for every new student referred. ‘Workshop attendees will receive instruction on the great Highland pipes, Scottish smallpipes, and Scottish snare drum. Our guest piping…

The SPA’s annual competition for young pipers aged 18 and under was held under video submission rules for the first time. Main sponsors were MacCallum Bagpipes. The contest attracted a large entry with the results announced this weekend with a very high standard of piping particularly in the U-18 category. The winners were: 18 & Under Piobaireachd1 Cameron May, Lament for Donald Duaghal MacKay2 Hazel Whyte, Battle of Auldearn No…

To give everyone some focus we publish the list of pipe band major championships we hope will be fulfilled during the 2021 summer season. Now that a covid vaccination programme has started in the UK, will there could be a return to normal in just over five months time? However, we should not assume a smooth resumption of pipe band contests as we know them, at least in the early…

Composer, teacher and Gold Medallist Niall Matheson has written a new piobaireachd for a war hero from his home Highland village of Newtonmore in Badenoch. Colonel Sir Thomas ‘Tommy’ Macpherson died in 2014 aged 94. At the time of his passing he was believed to be the most decorated surviving veteran of the Second World War. He won three Military Crosses and France’s Légion d’Honneur among many other awards. Said…