It is looking less and less likely that there will be any major pipe band championships this year. Everyone should brace themselves for cancellation of the Scottish and World Championships. Major August events such as the Edinburgh Festival and Military Tattoo have tumbled already. This pandemic is now so serious that I wonder if people’s hearts would be in it anyway. Would bands have time to prepare? Short notice could…

Very pleasing response to the PP Lockdown Challenge with videos, drawings, a painting, tunes and essays coming our way rapido. Keep it going folks. Use that time constructively and creatively and maybe put a smile on the faces of our hard pressed piping fraternity. First the frustrating stuff however. Tomintoul Games, due for mid July, have been cancelled for 2020. Wallace Bagpipes, RG Hardie and McCallums are all curbing their…

The Irish Pipe Band Association today issued the following changes regarding their pipe band contests this summer. They include the postponement of the All Ireland Championships which were going to be a showpiece celebration of the Association’s 75th Anniversary. IPBA Secretary John G Sheehan said postponed events would be kept under review to ascertain the viability of an alternative date later in the year. He then issued the following:    …

The PP Lockdown Challenge covers four areas of endeavour which we hope will stimulate readers’ creative sensibilities during this protracted period of confinement viz: Drawing or Painting anything with a piping or pipe band connection. Experienced artist and RSBA judge Robert Mathieson has kindly agreed to judge. P/M David Bruce is quick off the mark with this example of his work (above). David writes: ‘Did this one over the last…

The great lockdown has begun, writes the Editor. The omens for what’s left of the piping and pipe band season are not good. May gone, June gone, July gone, August under threat. After that who knows? The important thing during this unprecedented period is to obey the rules, stay safe and be busy. For pipers that means keeping the instrument going, learning new tunes. Moreover, the pipes have always been…