Professional piper, adjudicator and reedmaker Donald MacPhee has spoken about his quest to find out more about a bagpipe which belonged to his uncle Michael, a noted piper who served throughout WW1. Small world this piping fraternity: 100+ years on and we find that the pipes are in a good home not a million miles from where Donald lives in the Vale of Leven west of Glasgow. Read on….. Donald: ‘My grandfather…
Like many, I was sorry to learn of the passing of Gwen MacPherson, Donald’s widow. Gwen (86) died in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, on December 2, after chest infection complications. Her funeral service is today, Dec 14, at Mortonhall Crematorium, Pentland Chapel, Edinburgh, at 10.30 am, to which all family and friends are invited. The death notice in the Edinburgh Evening News read: ‘Gwen, very dearly loved wife of the late Donald, mother…
P/M Ian McLellan reports on progress with the new Argylls book of bagpipe music. Ian writes: ‘Hi Rab, I thought you might be interested in the above photograph of the personnel involved in compiling the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Collection of Bagpipe Music. ‘From the left are myself, P/M Jimmy Banks, Captain Gordon Rowan, A & SH, Walter Cowan and James Henderson. Keeping you up to date on the progress, all…
We start today with a new letter from piping researcher Hector Russell, Helensburgh. Hector has been delving into the archives of the 214th Glasgow Company of the Boys’ Brigade Pipe Band and discovering many interesting old photographs and information about a band that was a hotbed of top-level piping and drumming tuition during the latter half of the 20th Century. The picture above is of the Rutherglen Pipe Band and features…
P/M Terry Lee and L/D Reid Maxwell made one of the greatest pipe band combinations of all time. Whilst they were at the helm of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, Burnaby, BC, they won no fewer than six World Championship titles. They travelled thousands of miles each year to compete against the world’s best and were never out of the top six in all that time. So when they talk of what…
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