PP Ed's Blog: WW2 Pipes/ Piobaireachd Society Conference/ CoP Lecture

A couple of weeks ago we highlighted a request from RSPBA Vice Chairman John Hughes for information about a set of pipes presented to his uncle, PoW William Chisholm, during WW2. The pipes had a plaque on them which indicated they may have arrived in Germany via the Piobaireachd Society. We asked if any other readers had similar sets. I was pleased to hear from Iain Duncan, the former archivist…

Johnstone Pipe Band Concert Preview/ Muirheads Worlds 1969 Picture

Stuart McCallum of McCallum Bagpipes has sent this re Saturday’s gala concert by Johnstone Pipe Band: ‘The band are delighted to have been invited to perform on the main stage at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on Saturday the 20th January as part of the city’s 2018 Celtic Connections festival. ‘It’s the first major concert for the band under Pipe Major Keith Bowes. All three of the competing bands in the Johnstone…

History: The Late John MacDougall and his Family's 150 Years of Piping

We are grateful to the Aberdeen Evening Express newspaper for publishing the family history of one of the most gifted pipers of the post-WW2 era, the late John MacDougall. The paper reveals interesting details about John’s past and how the family tradition is being carried on. It is headlined ‘Piping Through the Ages’. The above picture shows John MacDougall as a boy piping with his father in the Bucksburn Pipe Band….

PP Ed's Blog: Reflections on NZ/ Silver Medal Tunes/ SPA AGM/ Schools Trust Job

Reflecting on my recent visit to New Zealand I really must doff the bonnet to all those pipers who, over many years, have made the long trek to the Northern Hemisphere to compete at Oban and Inverness (and bands who get the cash and time together to do the same to compete at the Worlds). Only when you’ve done it do you really appreciate the commitment required – and it…

History: Pipe Major Donald MacLeod Piping Profile from 50 Years Ago

The following is taken from the September 1967 edition of ‘Piping World’ an American-based magazine edited by the late Donald Varella….. So often we hear someone or other referred to as ‘being a piper’. And in most cases the person spoken of could equally well be described a being a philatelist, a gardener, or a missionary; for although he can’t lay his hands on it just now, he began his stamp…