P/M Jimmy Banks MBE Remembers His Time at the Army School, Edinburgh Castle, in 1969

A couple of weeks ago the Editor joined a panel at the Army School of Piping, Inchdrewer House, Edinburgh, for the 2021 Pipe Majors’ Course Passing Out. He shared duties with P/M Jimmy Banks, Scots Guards. During a break in proceedings he took the opportunity of speaking to P/M Banks about his own time at the Army School more than 50 years ago…. I attended the Pipe Majors’ Course in October…

Editor’s Notebook: Queen’s Own and Evan/ Colin Murray/ Ronald Elmslie/ Hugh MacCallum/ OZ Smallpipes/ SFU

Thanks to Yahya Hussein in the US for sending the above picture, relevant to yesterday’s review of Evan Macrae’s new book. Yahya writes: ‘Here is a photo of the pipe band of the 1st Camerons at Catterick [Yorkshire] having just returned from their foreign service tour in the Sudan in October 1936. ‘When I showed Jimmy McIntosh this photo some years ago, he happily identified a good number of the…

A Day at Inchdrewer and a Passing Out Parade at the Army School of Piping

Lance Corporal McCaskill had just finished his half hour performance and I turned to Jimmy Banks and Jimmy turned to me and Finlay Johnston turned to him and we all agreed what a joy it was to hear a live bagpipe. The occasion was this week’s Army Pipe Major’s Course Passing Out where we three were the panel. It was the first time in many months we had heard pipes…

Editor’s Notebook: Piping Live Plaudits/ PS Conference Online/ Mystery Band/ Reminders

How good it feels to have something positive to report! The news that Piping Live! 2021 is to go ahead will be welcomed by everyone keen on clawing back some of the lost ground piping has suffered in the past year. Finlay MacDonald and his NPC team are leading the way in getting us back to where we once belonged. So as the blurb says: Save the Date! The festival…

Hope for the Worlds as Scotland Set to Follow England in Permitting Large Scale Outdoor Events

The announcement last week that the Scottish administration is working on a plan to allow large scale festivals to take place this summer augurs well for the Scottish Championships at Dumbarton on July 31 and the World Championships in Glasgow on August 13/14, writes the Editor. More than one national newspaper reported that there were behind the scenes moves to align Scotland with England where large outdoor gatherings will be…

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