Category: Features

Editor’s Notebook: George Stoddart and the Edinburgh Tattoo/ Piping Live/ Chanter Mate/ Solo Contests

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Another great disappointment of this summer, particularly for tourists, is the cancellation of the Edinburgh Tattoo, largely because of the lack of insurance cover. It set me on a rake through the PP archive and I discovered an interesting cutting from the Scotsman newspaper from August 1970. It features P/M George Stoddart, the Tattoo’s first ‘Lone Piper’. It reads: ‘Back with the old crowd is George Stoddart, for many years…

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Bombs and Threats of Violence and The Day Red Hackle Pipe Band Saved the Venice Film Festival

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Following the recent passing of piper Colin Murray, Hector Russell, a friend of his from their Red Hackle days, has been in touch about trips they made with the band. The first three foreign excursions by the Hackle under the leadership of P/M John Weatherston, affectionately known as ‘wee Jock’, were to Venice and to Brittany and Le Mont-Dore in France. These adventures were somewhat diverse in their purpose. The…

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Pipe Band History: Fintan Lalor Enjoy Success Under P/M Tim Keogh

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Pipe Major Tim Keogh, who had held the Pipe Sergeant position for a number of years took over the leadership of the band in 1953. Tim was an accomplished piper and violinist. He was also a gifted composer with one of his tunes, The One and Only, being dedicated to his former Pipe Major, Paddy Solan. This was a time when competition within Ireland was getting stronger with the Ballycoan…

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Archie Kenneth Results/ Aboyne Online Details/ Set Tunes 2022

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The winner of the 2021 Archie Kenneth Quaich competition for amateur piobaireachd is Malta-based piper Gill Cairns. She is pictured above during her winning performance. Gill competed along with 23 other pipers in the competition held online on May 22. Competitors’ recorded tunes were then passed to the judges Iain Speirs and Euan Anderson for consideration. Gill tune was the Lament for John Morrison of Assynt House by P/M Donald…

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Love Piping? Live Piping and Piping Live! Coming Your Way This Summer

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Don’t despair folks. Despite the expected cancellation, yet again, of Oban and Inverness, piping enthusaists here in Scotland still have a good chance of catching some great live music this summer, writes the Editor. Director Finlay MacDonald has re-affirmed that the Piping Live! festival will be going ahead from August 7 -15 and there will an expected announcement tomorrow. The Silver Chanter contest will run, with, it is hoped, a…

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