Draw for Wheel of Fortune/ PP Miscellany/ Drumming Prizes Poll

Paul White: The City of Edinburgh Pipe Band is pleased to announce that the draw has been made for the 2015 Pipe Majors Wheel of Fortune competition. The event, which will be held in Danderhall Miners Club on Saturday 7th February, will see some of Scotland’s finest traditional musicians take part in a unique competition where musical expression and entertainment comes to the fore.   The order of play is…

P/M Ian McLellan Part 3/Murdo MacDonald/ SPA Veterans

Today we publish the final instalment in the remarkable life story of P/M Ian McLellan. This excerpt concentrates on Ian’s early years and solo career. Read it here. Murdo MacDonald, a piper in the City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band in the 1960s, has died aged 86. Murdo, from Lewis, played in the band under P/M Angus MacDonald and for a short time under P/M Ronnie Lawrie. Murdo’s funeral is…

Oldest Piping Society in the US is Reborn plus Chris Armstrong Departure

US professional piper Nick Hudson has sent this: ‘Hi Rab, Wanted to let you know of a potentially newsworthy item: we’re starting a piping society in Pittsburgh, similar to the Eagles. Standard fare, I know, but…it happens to be the oldest society in the USA, dating from 1898.’ Press release: ‘The oldest piping society in the U.S.A. predates such bastions of our age as the Piobaireachd Society, the RSPBA, and…

PP Editor’s Blog 30/1/15

I was struck by the quality of Gordon Walker’s playing on the BBC’s Gaelic piping programme the other day: bright, full of verve, clean, crisp professional technique, a solid, harmonic pipe. It was recorded at the Northern Meeting a couple of years ago and here was a piper going for the first prize. No safety first for him. Yes, he may have lost a tad control in his Cockerel in the…

Lomond & Clyde Seek New P/M & A Look Back at 1823

P/M David Wotherspoon has stepped down as P/M of the Lomond & Clyde Pipe Band after a very successful period in charge, winning many major championships in Grade 2. In a statement the band said: ‘The band would like to announce that Pipe Major David Wotherspoon has this evening stepped down from his position with Lomond and Clyde.  ‘Davie has been instrumental to the band’s progression since being appointed to the position…