The 79th annual London Championship is held today at the Kensington Conference Centre. Events this year have been reduced with no ‘C’ grade, no CLASP amateur contests, a combined Piobaireachd for A and B grades and a combined JB Robertson March and premier MSR. This has reduced costs in particular the cost of judges. Another benefit will be time afforded for socialising before during and after the competition. In the past this was…

WO2 Pipe Major Peter Macgregor reports…. Under the direction of Major Gordon Rowan, the 2018 annual Army Piping and Drumming Championship was held at the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming at Inchdrewer house over the weekend (October 27/28). The contest started with a graded solo piping, drumming and bugling competition on the Saturday followed by a mini band competition on the Sunday along with the prize giving…

Calling all composers. There is exactly one month left to get your composition entered for the John Cruickshank VC tune competition. First prize is £1,000. Entries close November 30. There has already been a considerable number of submissions. The contest is for a pipe march, of any time signature, to commemorate Mr Cruickshank’s heroism during WW2. It has been brought to our attention that these heroics featured in the boy’s…

There were two juvenile solo competitions in Scotland last weekend. We have already reported on the Festival of Juvenile Solo Piping. The other was the Army Cadet Forces piping competition at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh. The above picture shows Pipe Major John A. McLaren and Cadet Rory Robson of 1 Highlanders Pipes & Drums, Inverness, who took first places in the piobaireachd events. Both John and Rory are from Invergordon and play for Ross…