Category: History

Piping in WW2: Heroes of the Scottish Pipers’ Association

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The second excerpt from Jeannie Campbell’s history of piping 1939-1945 which first appeared in Pipe Band magazine in 2007……. During the war years the Scottish Pipers’ Association continued to meet in Glasgow and to run their amateur/juvenile competitions. At the beginning of the War, Malcolm MacLean Currie was the Association Secretary. The full committee is pictured above in 1936. Malcolm Currie had served during the First World War as P/M…

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Piper Eilidh’s Trust Helps Youth Music Groups Bounce Back from Pandemic

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Youth music groups across Scotland grappling with the continued effects of the pandemic have been awarded funding to support their safe return to teaching by the charity set up in memory of Manchester Arena victim, piper Eilidh MacLeod. The bodies benefiting include the Lewis and Harris Piping Society, Mallaig and Ardnamurchan Pipe Band and Castlebay School Pipe Band. The money is for local youth music initiatives to safely return to…

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Piping During WW2: Home and Abroad the Music Continued Regardless

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The current hiatus in piping activity, more particularly in pipe band activity, has been likened to a similar fallow period during WW2. What was it like then? In this series piping historian Jeannie Campbell investigates and finds that there was much more going on than might be imagined…. Pipers took their traditions with them wherever they were stationed. A Highland Games was held on the North African shores of the…

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Strathclyde Police Pipe Band, a Ship Launch on the Clyde and P/M Donald MacKay

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Following on from last week’s item on bands in shipyards, I enclose photos of the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band led by P/M Donald MacKay at Yarrow’s shipyard on the Clyde in November 2007 for the official launch of Royal Navy vessel HMS Diamond, writes Allan Hamilton. It was a cold wet day as usual, but undaunted the band played without capes to the delight of a crowd of Navy personnel,…

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Editor’s Notebook: Covid Fears for 2022 Season/ Charity Single/ Talk Piobaireachd/ Results from Yesteryear

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All the indications are that the restrictions/ recommendations on social gatherings limited to three households, as announced yesterday, will extend at least until March. What impact this will have on band practices here in Scotland I know not. But I am concerned. The knock on effect for the 2022 season could be significant. Already we have had the cancellation of the Scottish Schools contest scheduled for the end of March….

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