Editor’s Notebook: Bratach Gorm/ Northern Winter School/ John and the Duke/ Queensland/ John MacDonald’s Pipes

This is a busy weekend for piping with the London Championship beginning held tonight in the capital and the Northern Winter School kicking off in Germany. The Championship’s prestigious Bratach Gorm takes place in the Caledonian Club, Belgravia. Good luck to everyone. Leading the charge for the big one will be Glenfiddich prizewinners Finlay Johnston and Callum Beaumont but on their day any of the contestants is capable of taking…

Glenfiddich Championship 2021 Results

The Glenfiddich Champion for 2021 is Jack Lee. He was placed second in ceòl mòr and third in light music to take the overall title. Runner-up overall was Angus MacColl and third Finlay Johnston. The ‘live’ competition was held today in Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Perthshire. It was also livestreamed for viewers around the world. Piobaireachd placings:1 Finlay Johnston, Lament for the Union2 Jack Lee, Lament for Colin Roy MacKenzie3…

Editor’s Notebook: Harry McAleer/ Piobaireachd Society News/ the CoP, Donald and Seumas

Wasn’t that a good memeory of the late Harry McAleer to share yesterday? I know from your response that it was much appreciated. One photograph we forgot to include is the one above. It shows Harry (r) with his friend Fred Russell piping at Harry Stevenson’s wedding in 1971. (Harry is the respected RSPBA adjudicator and PP contributor.) In yesterday’s article Fred talked of growing up with Harry in their…

Details of the Bratach Gorm and London Championship for 2021 Announced

Presale tickets, players and judges for the prestigious Bratach Gorm piobaireachd competition on the Friday night of this year’s London Competition are summarised as follows, writes Stephanie Supranowicz. The Scottish Piping Society of London is delighted to open ticket registration for the Bratach which is to be held on Friday 5th November 2021. They are available now via the SPSL website at http://www.scottishpipingsocietyoflondon.co.uk/  This year’s competition sees a healthy entry of 11…

Be a Better Piper: When Choosing a Bagpipe, It is Vital that You Get it Right

Forget the house or the car. The most important decision a piper has to make is in the instrument he/she buys. Get it wrong and face years of wasteful and expensive plumbing trying to make something out of a very bad situation. Get it right, and you can have hours of musical satisfaction from an instrument that is easy to reed, steady, and an all round pleasure to play. In…