Editor’s Notebook: Worlds Tickets/ ‘Wee’ Donald MacLean/ Atholl Gathering

A few comments on yesterday’s story about ticket prices for the Worlds. This from Donald McRae: ‘The price of tickets for children (under 16) is depressing, the price for a Saturday ticket being £17 or only £5.50 less than that for an adult. ‘I would expect such a ticket to be lower, possibly around 50% of the adult price. Should Glasgow Life not be encouraging youngsters to engage with the…

Editor’s Notebook: Highland Games/ SG KO Final Cancelled/ Angus MacKay Cairn/ Voice Returns/ Shotts Success/ Painter’s Piper

A report in the Sunday Times newspaper last weekend bemoaned what they saw as a decline in our Highland games. In particular they mentioned Cowal which they said could not come close these days to the 40,000 crowds it used to attract. What they failed to mention was the fact that Dunoon was no longer a pipe band championship and as such automatically cut out up to 150 pipe bands…

Editor’s Notebook: Bands Get Ready/ RSPS Results/ Tune Search/ NPC Logo/ Norway Query

Up at Oban last weekend fellow judge Robert Barnes was telling me his Methil band are struggling to make the first Major at Forres in a month’s time. They’ve lost their drum corps. This is a story we’ve all heard before – and all over the country. There is a real need for some structured teaching programme for drummers (and pipers) that helps a band like Barney’s. Maybe it is…

Jimmy Anderson 1946-2024

Jimmy Anderson, who has died aged 77, was a World Pipe Band Championship winning piper with Muirhead and Sons and the man who half a century ago led the introduction of bagpipes into folk groups. His successes at the Worlds came in the legendary Muirheads band of the 1960s, and he was the proud owner of three plaques commemorating wins in 1967, ’68 and ’69. With brothers Peter and Tommy,…

Editor’s Notebook: 2/4 March Tempos/ Alastair MacQueen/ Bangor BB/ Pipe Band Gradings

Further to my comment about the slow playing of 2/4 marches, and concerned that I was talking out of turn, I had a listen to a recording I made back in 1982. The tempo is more or less the same as Hugh MacInnes‘s. The tunes are Highland Wedding and Jeannie Carruthers: I then had a listen to a selection of marches from the PP archive and they all confirmed that…