Noticing the advert for the new RG Hardie pipe cases I was wondering what happened to the old wooden pipe box. I mean what do pipers sit on these days when they are waiting for a bus? Sorry, I forgot; they don’t do that any more. If you turn up at your band practice in anything less than a Ford Fiesta Titanium you get frowned on. Taking the boat to…
Major Stevie Small MBE, Project Officer for the Pipers’ Trail, is looking for pipers and drummers who want to play at this year’s spectacular Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Major Small, recently retired as Director of Army Bagpipe Music, said: ‘This is a tremendous opportunity to take part in the world famous Tattoo and Pipers’ Trail is now recruiting for 2017! Pipers and drummers of all ages and backgrounds are welcome.’ The…
A WW1 article in the Scotsman at the weekend made poignant reading – five hundred pipers killed and six hundred wounded. It read: ‘London-born Sir Philip Gibbs (1877-1962), one of five official reporters during the First World War, wrote about the effects of the pipes and the extraordinary bravery of pipers and Highlanders among the British forces at the Battle of Delville Wood near the village of Longueval which raged…
Ian McAlister has added to the debate on a cap on band sizes. Ian writes: ‘I have said for a while we need to limit numbers in bands. I would have a maximum squad number and maximum playing number into force to allow a bit of cover for holidays etc, perhaps a maximum of 18 pipers playing with max of 21 in the squad. ‘This would make more players available…
Two readers have kindly offered their experience of dealing with government authorities now regulating the movement and commercial activity surrounding African blackwood. Piper Bob Low: ‘Having an upcoming trip in January to France via Switzerland with bagpipes, I contacted APHA [the regulating body in the UK] for advice. They confirmed they cannot issue an ‘instrument passport’ until dalbergia is formally adopted into the EU version of CITES. They anticipated earliest would be…
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