Category: Bagpipes

PP Editor’s Blog: Corby Games/ German Results/ Inverness Games/ Film Gig

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Forty years ago I was at Corby, in Northants, for the World Pipe Band Championships (yes, the fated we wuz robbed event). Last weekend saw me back there almost to the day to judge the solo piping. Thanks to the influx of steelworkers in the 50s and 60s, Corby has a strong Scottish heritage, and a few thousand turned out for the games and pipe band competition. Before proceedings got…

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PP Editor’s Blog: Captain John Young/ Bk 16/Crieff etc.

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IN all my years of writing about piping and pipe bands there has never been a story as touching as that of Captain John Young, Assam Regiment and Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. He was the officer who, hopelessly outnumbered and fearing encirclement and massacre by the Japanese, sent his men to safety while he remained alone at his jungle outpost. Thus he fulfilled his orders to fight to the last man…

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Famous Pipers: Angus MacKay Conclusion/ Mod Reminder/Braemar Jnrs./Worlds Tickets

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Today we end our look at the life and times of piping genius Angus MacKay, how he was consumed by mental illness and eventually escaped from an institution and drowned in a river in south-west Scotland. There are tributes and an assessment of the life of the man who more than any other laid the foundation of our modern piping tradition. Final day for entries to the National Mod piping…

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New Drumming Job/ Thoughts on the Worlds Draw/Killin Games 2015 Cancelled

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Carnegie Mellon University is looking for a  new drumming instructor for its Pipes and Drums. Professor of Music, P/M Andrew Carlisle, the recent winner of the top US solo piping prize, the USPF, said : ‘Carnegie Mellon University is seeking a drumming instructor to lead the drum corps of its ‘Pipes and Drums’. The creation of this new drumming position is a huge step forward by the University. For many years, Carnegie Mellon…

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PP Video Archive/ John MacDonald Recording/RSPS pic/Mod Reminder

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New PP Video Archive page launched today with a slideshow from the Argyllshire Gathering. It has pictures from before WW2 right up to the present day.  The picture above is included. It is from the games at Oban in 1950, and the pipers left to right are: John Finlay, Charlie Scott, Willie Connell, Donald MacLean (Lewis), a shy looking John Burgess, George Stoddart, J O’Grady and R Henderson. John D. had…

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