Category: History

British Pipe Band Championships 2022 – A Spectator’s View

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It was a relief to be able to attend the British Championships at Greenock last Saturday, the first time I have been anywhere near a live pipe band contest for more than two years.  The venue was perhaps appropriate for the first Major following the pandemic as Battery Park is on the Firth of Clyde, not far from where, on the ferry coming back from Cowal in 1930, the original…

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Famous Pipers: Fifty Years Since the Passing of Robert U. Brown, Balmoral

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Bob Brown, King’s Piper, renowned teacher and competitor is well known in the solo piping world. He was a direct link to the teaching of John MacDonald, Inverness, and after retiring from his job on the Royal estates on Deeside dedicated himself to passing on what he had learned to the next generation of pipers. This teaching involved travel. In 1972 he was to make his last fateful tour abroad,…

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Why Is the March Strathspey and Reel Such a Chore for Pipe Bands These Days?

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By Robert Wallace I am very grateful to Dr Jack Taylor for passing on to me a recording of a BBC radio programme from the 1970s. It features my old pipe major Bob Hardie and his band Muirhead and Sons. They had just completed their five Worlds titles in a row 1965 -69, a record for a civilian band yet to be broken, though Field Marshal came dashed close a…

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Atholl Highlanders Pipes & Drums Mark Musical Succession At This Year’s Parade

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Entries are now closed for one of the first Highland games of the summer at Blair Atholl on May 29. Pipers have topped sixty with double figures in all grades P/A, B and C. The day before the games….. This year’s Atholl Highlanders Parade at Blair Castle in Highland Perthshire marks the retirement of two very distinguished band members who hand over duties to two musical brothers. The Parade will see the…

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History: Day 2 at the Northern Meeting 1970

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A couple of weeks ago we ran a report on day one of the 1970 Northern Meeting. Today we have the Press & Journal newspaper’s report from day 2. It marked the comeback of the legendary Donald MacPherson after a four year lay off. The newspaper caption to the above picture reads ‘Congratulations for Mr Donald MacPherson, Exmouth, Devon, from his wife Gwen and daughters Fiona and Katrina after winning…

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