The death has been reported in New Zealand of one of the great pipe band side drummers of the 20th century, Robert Turner. Robert was trained in the 214 Boys Brigade pipe band in Glasgow and after winning all the Juvenile titles with that band went on to take over as leading tip of the legendary Muirhead & Sons Pipe Band. There he won five World Championships in a row…

Congratulations to the amazing Steven McWhirter for his tenth World Solo Drumming title, clearly now the Alex Duthart or Jim Kilpatrick of today. Only one Scot in the top list, so well done too to Grant Cassidy of Uddingston Strathclyde for flying the flag. Grant is a protégé of the late Bert Barr, brilliant drummer, brilliant teacher and Alex’s loyal sidekick. A word for all the pipers who slaved throughout…

Thanks to Yahya Hussein in New York for this unique picture of a piper from WW2. Yahya: ‘Here’s a photo of the intrepid Pipe Major Rob Roy of Tobruk who survived the war and whom Jimmy McIntosh told me was a very good piper. His daughter wrote a book on him.’ The blurb: ‘This book is about Pipe Major Robert Roy MBE DCM of the Black Watch who became known…

The link for the piping at the National Mod is : https://youtu.be/TpLE7cv2tEg

I am in a quandary. I don’t want to demote the guy, but MacStig is under pressure. We’ve had quite a few representations from bandpeople in Grade 3A asking why they are being neglected in our coverage. Grade 1, as expected, gets the bulk of our pipe band space. With MacStig’s popular input, G2 has been riding high for the past few years. But is it time to give 3A…