By Robert Wallace Whilst editor of the Piping Times I ran a very interesting story concerning the tragic tale of John Archie MacAskill. John Archie, a former piper with the City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band and a Gaelic poet and bard, hailed from the island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. Born in 1894, he left his native island aged 16 to join the Cameron Highlanders. Lying about his…

Despite all the work they do for our pipe bands the RSPBA still gets heaps of stick from certain quarters of the disgruntled doghouse of dodgy debaters. One trollologist recently whined on about how the Association has £1m in the bank and that all the money would go to waste, the bands losing out whilst Messrs Embelton, Hughes et al, all Hawaiian shirts and shorts, headed for the executive lounge…

A very pleasant day on the shores of Loch Lomond, writes Robert Wallace. Low entries in all events but there were sufficient to to keep the sound of the pipes ringing on the Bonnie Banks from mid morning till late afternoon. The picture above shows Ben Mulhearn receiving the open piobaireached trophy. Ben, of Ayrshire Bagpipes, was playing his own chanter and a set of Burmese Rosewood pipes also made…

The Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) and Bar to the Medal contests for 2019 are be held on Friday, August 2nd and thanks to sponsorship from the Clan Donald Lands Trust will have a first prize of £1,800 ($3,000CDN). This represents a considerable upgrade in the contest which was started by back in the 1970s by Archie Cairns with the assistance of Captain John MacLellan representing the Piobaireachd Society. Adjudicator…

Thanks to the many thousands of readers we had for our reports on the European Pipe Band Championships. It is clear from what both MacStig and I wrote, and from the responses received, that there needs to be an audience dimension added to major pipe band championship planning. Would the RSPBA consider giving one of their directors the responsibility of checking out facilities for listeners? An ‘audience czar’ would surely…