Category: Features

Inverness Games Results/ Bowhill Entry

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Around 7000 people attended last Saturday’s Inverness Highland Games, held in the spacious Bught Park, writes Les Hutt. There were nine competitors in the adult piping. The overall winner in the senior events was Angus MacPhee (pictured).  Inverness Games is the first event in the Glass Chanter contest for senior piping at the Highland Games in the north. Angus is the current holder. Inverness Games results were as follows: Piobaireachd…

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Review: UK Pipe Band Championships

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In many respects the Royal Highland Show grounds at Ingliston are ideal for a pipe band championship. Plenty of space for tuning, parking. However the site is very exposed. Wind and rain and there would be a distinct lack of shelter. Fortunately last Saturdays UK Championships were held in perfect conditions: bright sunshine with a cooling breeze. Engine noise from the nearby Edinburgh Airport was a minimal distraction. By Robert…

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Editor’s Notebook: Champion of Champions/ Glass Chanter/ Ross Miller/ Inveraray Draw/ Book Search

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My view is that the RSPBA should have cancelled the Grade 1 contest at the Ingliston UKs tomorrow. It really is no contest at all when there are only three bands taking part. Nor does it do these bands any favours guaranteeing them Champion of Champions points for turning up. Should they place well in the final CoC tables they will always be condemned for their ‘UK appearance points’. No,…

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Champion of Champions Reaction/ Forres Games (updated)/ Australian Ladies

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Below are readers responses to Ian Forbes’s article on the allocation of points for the 2025 Grade 1 Champion of Champions title. Apart from other issues raised, Ian questioned the wisdom of the RSPBA automatically giving the three bands entered for Saturday’s G1 UK Championship six, five and four points towards the CoC title. George McIntyre: ‘Why should the three bands that have entered be penalised? After all it’s not…

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Review: ‘The Bagpipes: A Cultural History’ by Richard McLauchlan

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I am about to tell you about a book that includes among its photographs and images a picture of me drinking whisky directly from a bottle. And on that point, it can be said there has never been a book that features bagpipes quite like Richard McLauchlan’s ‘Bagpipes: A Cultural History‘. It has a broad reach: from the instrument’s pre-history over two millennia ago and Emperor Nero, to the Chilli Pipers…

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