Category: History

History: Solo Piping in 1985 and the Day the Gold Medal was Paused for Communion

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The following is taken from the Oban Times piping column written by Alfred Morrison in late August 1985. He begins in characteristically trenchant fashion with a comment on the Silver Chanter: On Wednesday evening this piping recital was held in Dunvegan Castle. This event in piping used to be a competition for pipers who had already won the Gold Medal at Oban or Inverness, but this year it was demoted…

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Editor’s Notebook: JAX School/ North Lanarkshire Job/ Donald, Willie/ Letters/ USPF

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We had 40+ students at this year’s Florida Pipes & Drums Academy in Jacksonville. The intake represents a good bounce back after covid. We introduced a new grading system for the pupils this year. It placed them on an attainment ladder which we hope will encourage them to advance upwards. June, one of our students and herself a teacher, said she was impressed with the care and concern the tutors…

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More on the Australian Ladies’ Visit to Scotland

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Reading Duncan Watson’s article on the Australian Ladies’ visit reminded me that I had a couple of very old cuttings about them from the Campbeltown Courier. There’s information that intimates their visit, followed by a fairly comprehensive report on it. I have copied the reporter’s scripts to the letter for authenticity, though some wording is a bit quaint. By Iain Duncan The first cutting from the Courier, dated October 9, 1926,…

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EUSPBA’s New President Speaks to Piping Press

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At 56 Bill Caudill is the recently-appointed President of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association. By geographical area, and perhaps numbers, it is the largest piping association in the world. This week he has been instructing at the Florida Pipe and Drum Academy in Jacksonville and our editor took the opportunity of interviewing him about his new role. Membership?: ‘We have in excess of 700 solo members and more…

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Interesting Photograph of the Australian Ladies

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I came across the above photograph in a book and thought it might be of interest to readers. It is of the Australian Ladies Pipe Band when they visited the Braemar Gathering in 1926 as part of their world tour. One of the purposes of the tour was to raise funds for ex-servicemen from WW1 and the Ladies were sponsored by Sir Harry Lauder and his wife who of course…

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