South Hall by John McLellan, Dunoon

We are grateful to John Don MacKenzie, Dornie, for supplying this original hand-written copy of the classic 2/4 march South Hall. The tune is of course by one of our greatest composers, John McLellan DCM, Dunoon, but the hand written music you can see is by P/M Willie Ross, written when he was directing the Army School of Piping at Edinburgh Castle. Here is the tune in full, beautifully laid out:…

PP Editor’s Blog: All Happening in the South West etc…..

To Dumfries the other night for a recital by Gordon McCready at the Hole in the Wa’ pub. The crowd enjoy a full evening of quality piping on a very good instrument.  Gordon was supported by 86-year-old Hamish Thow – clearly a player of note in his day, Alan Clement, and a very promising, clean fingered 11-year-girl, May Cranmer. Alan is, I think, Stuart Liddell’s cousin, and like the maestro, taught by his…

Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band as Reported in the 1950s

We thought that given the photographs and information we’ve all ready published on the City of Edinburgh Police Pipe Band, now sadly defunct, we should round things off with the history of the band as recorded in the Piping and Dancing Bulletin of the 1950s. Here’s how it reads: ‘The Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band; Tartan: Prince Charles Edward Stuart; Pipe Major: Duncan S. Cameron ‘The City of Edinburgh Police Pipe Band,…

Archive copy of ‘Highland Wedding’ from John MacDougall Gillies

Interesting letter today posted by Jimmy McIntosh re the performance of John Burgess in the Clasp contest at Inverness and mentioned in our Famous Pipers column last week. Read the letter here. Pipemaker Blue MacMurchie has again delved into his copious archive for the benefit of Piping Press readers. This time Blue has sent us a handwritten copy of the 2/4 march Highland Wedding in a setting by John MacDougall…

Famous Pipers: John D. Burgess/ Calum Campbell Concert

It is hard to believe that it is ten years since the death of one of the great pipers and characters of the recent past, P/M John D. Burgess. Today we mark this anniversary with a feature on John in our Famous Pipers column. Read it here. A concert is being held in Balivanich Hall, Benbecula, tomorrow night to celebrate the launch of a book of music ‘Ceol Chaluim’ by…