All roads lead to Dumbarton tomorrow for the third major of the pipe band season. Weather is looking pretty good (for the west of Scotland), with perhaps a few showers early on; dry by the March Past. A highly respectable 132 bands have entered for what will be the 25th Scottish Championships to be held under the shadow of the Rock. The sponsors, West Dunbarton Council deserve all credit for…

Not to labour the point, but £38 for a seat in the stands at the Worlds? Add this to the £25 average you have to pay to get into the public space that is Glasgow Green and you are looking at an outlay of £63 per person for a Saturday at the Worlds 2024. Still it doesn’t seem to have deterred folk. From what I can gather, Block A is…

They may not have been the first with the synthetic drone reed, but who would deny Ronnie MacShannon and Tommy Johnston their place as innovators who, through their company Pipe Dreams, changed the quality of bagpipe sound? Their Eezidrone reeds established a bench mark against which others were tested. Their sound was as close to cane as you can get without all the hassle. And every set of reeds met…