Harpenden Highland Games/ Roddy Cannon Eulogy

 Harpenden Highland Games John Angus Smith was the overall winner at the games held at the weekend near London. Adjudicator Roddy Livingstone:  Re your report on Corby, the points regarding pipe bands / teaching etc. are well made and mirror comments of people like myself, Andrew Hall, Hugh Jamieson, Alan Beaton, Jimmy Banks, ‘Gabby’ Roe, Brian MacRae….. (the list goes on) over many years!  The Scottish Piping Society of London is seeking…

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

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…

Brìghde Chaimbeul Recital/ Roderick Cannon’s Funeral/ CNE Tattoo

A good crowd of 60 or so gathered at St Mary’s Church in Haddington last Sunday to hear 17-year-old Brìghde Chaimbeul from Skye give a very well-received piping recital. Brìghde played a wide-ranging set of tunes on both the Highland pipes and smallpipes. She began  with a selection of 6/8 marches, including MacLeod of Mull and MacNeill of Ugadale. She then played some hornpipes and jigs and continued with the MSR, Braes of…

Luss Games Results & Comment

Today’s Luss Highland Games went ahead despite heavy rain showers and gusty winds. The entries were what one might expect in such circumstances: six in the ceol mor and seven in the ceol beag. The above picture shows Donald MacPhee on the piobaireachd board on his way to first prize. Piob: 1 Donald MacPhee, Battle of Auldearn No 1 2 Ben Duncan, MacDougall’s Gathering 3 Rebecca Tierney, Corrienessan’s Salute 4 Ben…

New England Piping Academy/USPF/Piobaireachd by the Sea/Letters

New England Piping Academy Principal Robert Wallace writes: ‘Well here we are in the deep woods of Massachusetts and the birds are singing and the pipes playing. It is quite an idyllic surrounding in which to study the great highland bagpipe. ‘The students are all responding well to treatment, crossing noises diminishing and breathing improving every day. There is the occasional increase in blood pressure when playing in public but most…