Following on from our articles on the Ford Motor Company Pipe Band and the Detroit Highlanders, correspondent Steve Thomson has forwarded another great picture (above). Steve writes: ‘This one from a parade in Detroit in 1910. Not sure who the players are (perhaps some of your intrepid readers will assist?). At that time these are likely immigrant Scots. The local St Andrews Society here [in Detroit] was founded in 1849…

By The Editor The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association have been notified by the Office of Scottish Charities Register (OSCR) that they will be taking no action against the Association following allegations of impropriety. The RSPBA’s Board of Directors have today issued this statement: ‘Following our previous statement on 20th January 2020 regarding the articles in the national press and our discussions with the Office of Scottish Charities Register (OSCR),…

Further to our story on the Ford Pipe Band reader Steve Thomson has kindly done a bit of research on another ‘motown’ pipe band. Steve writes: ‘The march the Detroit Highlanders was composed by Archibald MacNeill (the blind piper) in Glasgow. The Detroit Highlanders were a very successful band on the Ontario games circuit during the 1930s and 40s that really put Detroit on the piping map. ‘The Pipe Major…

So there we have it. All the judges for the 2020 season of pipe band major championships issued timeously by the volunteers of the RSPBA. Regular as dawn, year after year. The season begins to take shape and bands feel the excitement grow as May approaches. Remember this when next you read of these attempts to undermine Willie Sloan’s 90 year old creation. It has been, and remains, a force…

By The Editor A couple of days ago we reported on the 1938 spat between DR MacLennan and an Oban Times reviewer (anonymous) who had the temerity to question GS McLennan’s predilection for G gracenotes on birls at the ends of marches. The subject of the review was P/M Willie Ross’s Book 3, first published that year. There are some other interesting points of information in the text and we…