PP Editor’s Blog: Drumming Points/ SPA KO/ Dr MacKay/ NEPADA/ NIPDS

Congratulations to last weekend’s Grade 1 winners St Laurence O’Toole at Bangor, Northern Ireland, and Scottish Power at Banchory.  It is good to see these big bands supporting the smaller contests and not just the major championships. At the latter the Power narrowly beat Fife Police on ensemble preference and at Bangor it was Field Marshal who were nudged into second on a third prize for their drummers. There has…

Everything All Set for First Major Pipe Band Championship of 2016

One week from now 147 bands will converge on St James Playing Fields, Paisley, for the British Pipe Band Championships, the first major competition of the season. All of the organisational detail and logistics for an event which will host upwards of 5,000 bands people has been completed to the satisfaction of the RSPBA. Site work begins on Monday with fencing and vehicle tracking being laid. All band buses will…

New Recording From Donald MacPherson with Reviews of His Performance

A new addition today to the PP Audio Archive in the shape of a fine performance by Donald MacPherson of the piobaireachd Lament for Donald Duaghal MacKay, writes the Editor. It is a masterful rendering recorded at a concert promoted by the BBC in Glasgow in 1987 and comes to us via his former pupil Donald McBride of Kansas and Donegal. Donald, part of the world-class teaching faculty at next…

Old Photograph Reveals Distinctive Mode of Dress

Following the publication of yesterday’s historic picture from the Inverness Courier, correspondent Duncan Watson, Aberdeen, has sent the one above with the following story….. This photo from the late 1920s was in the Press and Journal [newspaper], under the heading ‘Past Times.’ I don’t know who the piper was. He looks to be a confident sort of person and is turning the corner of the board with a good stride. He…

A Look Back at The Northern Meeting in 1928

The British Newspaper Archive can provide an interesting and rewarding few hours for those searching for piping history. Below is the Inverness Courier’s report on the Northern Meeting in 1928. Remember it was held outside in those days, at the Northern Meeting Park close to where the Eden Court Theatre is today. Back then the Meeting was always a couple of weeks later than it is today – to tie in with…