Category: Comment

More Observations on the British Pipe Band Championships

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BRITISH PIPE BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016, St James Playing Fields, Paisley, Saturday, May 21 By Alistair Aitken OBE, former senior adjudicator for the RSPBA This was a new venue for the first major championship of the year and my first impression was the amount of space which was available.  The Playing Fields were flat and firm despite the rain earlier in the day.  However, they were also rather open to the…

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Pipe Major Responds to Comments on his Band’s Medley at the British Championships

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The statement below has been received from P/M Christopher Armstrong of Scottish Power Pipe Band. It follows yesterday’s critique by PP Editor Robert Wallace on the performances in Grade 1 at the British Championships held at Paisley last Saturday, May 21.  P/M Armstrong writes: ‘It’s always interesting to read your thoughts on all the bands’ performances after a contest, and as the Pipe Major of ScottishPower Pipe Band I thought I’d share…

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Paisley Preview/ WW1 Tunes

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All eyes tomorrow on the British Pipe Band Championships. If you are not already on Twitter then you may like to sign up and receive the RSPBA’s feed @RSPBAHQ. That way you will get the results as they are announced by Chief Executive Ian Embelton on the park. Failing that check out the RSPBA’s Results summaries from 6.30pm onwards. I will be reporting from the competition in these pages from…

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The P/M Robert G. Hardie Memorial Trophy to Be Competed for at the Argyllshire Gathering

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Unveiled today is the new P/M Robert G. Hardie Memorial Trophy to be awarded at the games at this year’s Argyllshire Gathering for the first time. It will be presented to the winner of a new ceol beag competition for young pipers aged 22 and under – but is open only to those who have competed in the MacGregor Memorial piobaireachd competition the day before.  Previously these pipers had no competition at the…

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

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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…

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