Author: Robert Wallace

Mull Games Results and Review

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It is always difficult to convince pipers that playing piobaireachd in the pouring rain is character building and in deference to that I offered each the option of performing in the judge’s tent, writes the Editor. Only one did, the rest braving the penetrating summer drizzle so typical of the west coast. Tobermory does not often suffer such a poor day, but on we went, determined to have our way…

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Editor’s Notebook: Worlds Tickets/ Ross’s Gig/ Inveraray Info/ King’s Tune/ Argyllshire Gathering 1974

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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…

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Editor’s Notebook: Pipe Dreams/ Thomason’s Sword/ Pipes in Early North America/ MacCrimmon Cairn/ Kilberry Middle Music

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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…

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Ceres Games Results and Comment

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A snell wind greeted us as we arrived in the Howe of Fife for the annual Ceres Highland Games, purportedly the oldest in Scotland, dating from 1314, and a year my rabid nationalist pal tells me coincides with some minor altercation at Bannockburn. By Robert Wallace It’s just over a year since the old grappler and piper Willie Baxter left us and there he was on the front of the…

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History: Grangemouth Boys Pipe Band and a First Picture of Muirhead & Sons

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I came across the photograph above in my great-grandfather’s collection. This is a copy I made in the days of negative film – the original is lost, writes reader Donald McLean It shows the Grangemouth Boys Pipe Band circa 1927-28. Of note for me is that seated second from left is my godfather John Ross (1909-1988). I spotted a reference to the Grangemouth Boys winning the Juvenile prize at the…

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