Category: History

Funding Cuts Deal Blow to the Silver Chanter Memorial Recital

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After 51 unbroken years the Silver Chanter MacCrimmon Memorial Piobaireachd Competition will not go ahead this August. Funding cuts by the William Grant Foundation have meant that the organisers, the Skye Piping Society, have found it impossible to continue with the prestigious event. The Foundation, who funnel the bulk of their £150,000+ funding for piping through the National Piping Centre, intimated two years ago that they were cutting back. The competition/recital was…

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PP Ed’s Blog: SPA Pro/Jimmy Jackson/ SPJA/ Xavier Vid/ Balmoral Schools/ Allan Chatto/

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What will be the first professional piping contest of the season (following the weather cancellation of the Uist & Barra) will be held this Saturday April 14. It’s the Scottish Pipers Association contest and it will be held at NPC West (College of Piping, Otago St. to us old timers) with a good entry in all categories. Last year’s overall winner was Sarah Muir (pictured top with her trophies) who will be…

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History: Duncan Campbell – His Life and Death

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We are very grateful to piping historian Keith Sanger (left) for these corrections and additions to our piece on Duncan Campbell’s pipes and manuscript of earlier this week. Keith writes…… Duncan Campbell’s date and place of birth are correct but your article then goes of the rails a bit. One day when I was in the National Archives of Scotland some years ago I was asked by the archivist if…

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History: Duncan Campbell, His Manuscript and His Bagpipe

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We are very grateful to Mr Bill Wotherspoon, Gold Medallist, solo piping adjudicator and Secretary of the Piobaireachd Society, for forwarding photographs and information relating to piper Duncan Campbell of Foss, Perthshire. Mr Wotherspoon was recently on a trip to the South Island of New Zealand and spotted the pictures and text in the Otago Settlers Museum, Dunedin. Duncan Campbell is known to all piobaireachd students and piping historians as…

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Why Ensemble Matters in Pipe Band Adjudication – Part 2

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Pipe band adjudication expert Alistair Aitken concludes his well-received article on the place of ensemble judging in the modern pipe band world. Not read the first instalment yet? Click here….. There are of course other factors which affect adjudication. While the approach can be objective, the final assessment is very much a subjective process and it is highly unlikely that results and comments will be the same unless there is collusion…

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