Editor’s Notebook: UK Championships/ Piping Live/ SPA AGM/ Scots Guards KO/ Northern Winter School

There are only three bands competing in Grade 1 at the UK Championships to be held at Ingliston near Edinburgh on July 12. They are Johnstone (pictured), Boghall and SLOT. No one should take any pleasure at this state of affairs. Next year the UKs need to be outwith the holiday period and definitely not on July 12. The first six bands in Grade 2 have been asked to carry…

Pibroch by the Sea/ Piping Live/ Scottish Schools Fest/

The annual Pibroch by the Sea festival will be held at Cancale, Brittany, 14 -15th September. This will be the 20th year of the festival. The 2025 piobaireachd workshop will be conducted by Silver Medallist Hervé le Floc’h and Jakez Pincet the festival founder. The masterclass costs 30 euros. To register for it and to play during the festival contact Catherine Thomas on catherine.armandine@gmail.com. Alternative contact: Pibroc’h en Bord de…

Scotland’s Memorial Cairns for Famous Pipers

I took a trip up Glen Strathfarrar a week ago to see the P/M Willie Ross cairn. It’s been in situ for about 15 years following the campaign by the late Finlay MacRae for a monument to his old tutor born in the glen at Camsorie. By The Editor A visit to the cairn should be on every piper’s bucket list. To get there take the A831 from near Beauly…

New Gala Piping Recital in London

The inaugural ‘London Recital’ will be held on 25 September 2025 and will feature two of the outstanding pipers of today, Iain Speirs and Angus MacColl. This new landmark event will be an evening of piobaireachd and light music held in one of London’s most historic Scottish venues. By Gordon Tughan-Jones On 25 September 2025, invited guests, all with connections to piping, will gather at Dover House, Whitehall – the…

Editor’s Notebook: Worlds Bus Parking/ Scots Guards KO/ Argyllshire Gathering Medal/ Miscellany

Steven Kinvig, Secretary, Kilsyth Thistle Pipe Band: The organisation of the Worlds for bands attending the event disappoints me each year. For most bands the location of where to park their coach, and in what zone is important, mobility issues etc. RSPBA and Glasgow Life are selling bus pass coded for colour but neither are able to identify the geographical location of any of the coloured zones. The person selling…