Some time ago a reader alerted me to what he termed the ‘California D throw’, the ‘light’ throw. He said that he had noticed how modern pipe bands and soloists seemed to opt for this style. The correspondent thought the ‘light’ throw ‘sounded tidier’ in bands but thought it lost ‘importance’ when played by a soloist. By importance I took it that he meant impact or definition. He speculated: ‘Has the…

Robert MacNeill, President of the BC Pipers has written: ‘Thanks for your back to back articles on Tom Brown being awarded the MBE and SFU PB’s 2009 Worlds Win pictures retrospective. Tom is so deserving of such a high honour for his great dedication to teaching youth for many decades. I well remember Tom being here to teach at SFUPB’s first two Highland Arts Festival weekends in 1987 and 1988….

By The Editor All the very best to all of our readers, advertisers and contributors for 2020. 2019 has been a successful year for Piping Press, with many thousands of readers attracted by our ‘no spin, no subscription’ quality journalism. Thanks to your support Piping Press will remain an independent, free, self financing web magazine for all of next year and beyond. Since our beginnings five years ago the magazine…

Tommy Graham passed away peacefully on the Monday before Christmas surrounded by his family. He was 93. Though small in stature, Tommy was a huge character and champion of piping and pipe bands. He was the founder and pipe major of the Graham Highland Pipe Band, a band consisting mostly of members of his family. Tommy is pictured above as band P/M. He was a war hero and in later…

Jimmy McIntosh on the archive report on Willie MacDonald, Benbecula’s Clasp in 1967: ‘My late friend Peter Forbes and myself stayed with Willie at that time. (Peter served in the HLI with Willie.) That morning when we were getting ready to go to Rose Street [the venue for the competition], Willie didn’t have his kilt jacket. His wife Margaret had forgotten to get it from the dry cleaners so Willie…