Category: History

Editor’s Notebook: Northern Winter School/ Talk Piobaireachd/ Calum’s New Book/ John Dew/ Col. Alastair Campbell

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We had several hours to kill before our flight home from the Northern Winter School and accepted an invitation of a short tour of the nearest great city, Hamburg, from our generous guides Frank and Kirsten. Hamburg vies with Rotterdam as the most important port on mainland Europe. A previous tax-free enclave made it a world centre for coffee roasting. Much of the old quarter is built on oak piles…

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An Unsung Hero of WW1: Piper Harry Stott, KOSB

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John Nevans is the current piping instructor at Lathallan School’s pipe band, having held the post for fifteen years. In this article he reveals the war herosim of the band’s founder, Mr Harry Stott…. Lathallan School sits at the base of a sloping coastline surrounded by natural woodlands, yards away from the rocky shoreline of the North Sea. Close to the fishing village of Johnshaven, the school occupies the building known as…

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History: Scottish School Exams in Piping

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Around fifty years ago the Institute of Piping met to formulate a plan that was transform the teaching of piping in Scotland. The Institute aimed to petition the Scottish Education Department to have the bagpipe accepted as an instrument in music exams. The Institute had been formed by the Piobaireachd Society, the College of Piping and the Army School of Piping act as an examining body for the bagpipe. It…

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Editor’s Notebook: Winter School/ Angus MacKay/ Brighde at COP/ Oldest Band/ Roddy Cannon

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We are well into the 2021 Northern Winter School here on the plains of Lower Saxony and as I write the music mingles with forests and fields that have borne witness to the best and worst of human conduct. In this little corner of Lohheide over 50 piping and drumming students banish the pandemic memories, learn their rudiments and re-kindle old friendships. The format is, as ever, hard work in…

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Donald Morrison Archive: A Letter from Sheriff JP Grant, Rothiemurchus

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As a young man in his 20s Donald Morrison, South Uist and Aberdeen, was determined to make a name for himself in piping. He communicated by letter with some of the noted individuals of the day. This article is from a letter Sheriff JP Grant, Rothiemurchus, Piobaireachd Society editor and judge, wrote to Donald in 1957. Forthright and instructive, it makes compelling reading …. Dear Donald, To answer all your…

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