Category: History

British Championships: Get Back to Basics to Re-Engage With the Public and Promoters

Posted on      by      6 Comments

Shock has been expressed at the loss of the first pipe band championship of the season 2023. Apparently this is due to the current lack of funds at local authority level, these authorities understandably reluctant /unable to commit funding to a pipe band competition when measured against other essential spending. Parks for competition require preparation, safety barriers and signage. Staff costs for policing and clearing up afterwards are rocketing owing…

More British Championships: Get Back to Basics to Re-Engage With the Public and Promoters

Scottish Pipers Association President Reponds to Complaints Over Entry Fees

Posted on      by      Leave a comment

The Scottish Pipers’ Association has faced some criticism with regards to the entry fee for our professional competition which I would like to address, writes President Logan Tannock.  The first point is that the entry fees, sponsorship, and grants are all ploughed back into the competition to cover judges, hall hires, lunches, prize money etc. All the people who volunteer to help on the day and give up their time,…

More Scottish Pipers Association President Reponds to Complaints Over Entry Fees

My Shock and Surprise at the Loss of a Pipe Band Championship This Summer

Posted on      by      3 Comments

As regards the news that there will be no British Pipe Band Championship this year, I am a little surprised at the lack of comment from others so far. Maybe everyone is as shocked and stunned as I was at the RSPBA announcement.  I felt that their terse statement last week, with no detail about what avenues had been explored and no meaningful apology, was a disgrace to the many…

More My Shock and Surprise at the Loss of a Pipe Band Championship This Summer

Results of Our Readers’ Poll on the Future BBC Radio Scotland Piping Programme

Posted on      by      3 Comments

What to make of our BBC Poll? We asked readers to comment on the form they believed the new BBC Radio Scotland piping programme should take following the announcement of the discontinuation of ‘Pipeline’ and the Gaelic medium show ‘Crunluath’, writes the Editor. There is to be a new programme amalgamating both, though given the language issue it is not clear how this can be achieved. There was a very…

More Results of Our Readers’ Poll on the Future BBC Radio Scotland Piping Programme

P/M Donald MacLeod and His Technique and Finger Position on the Pipe Chanter

Posted on      by      2 Comments

The position of Donald MacLeod’s fingers on the pipe chanter, well illustrated in the photograph above, is a subject not new to us. Having seen him in action and viewed other available photographs of the Pipe Major I think he could actually be identified by his fingers only! In the 1960s, which is not terribly long ago, I had the good fortune of being a member of the 11th Battalion…

More P/M Donald MacLeod and His Technique and Finger Position on the Pipe Chanter