Category: Letters

British Championship Tickets/ Pipe Major Ian McLellan/ David Weir/ Kintyre Book

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Tickets are on sale already for next summer’s British Pipe Band Championships at Ingliston. The date is May 30th. Mark Currie, Director at the Royal Highland Centre, said: ‘It’s a real honour to be hosting the championships once again… Visitors can expect a vibrant festival atmosphere.’ ‘Tickets are available now via our website, and early booking is recommended due to high demand. Children’s tickets are £12.50, adults £15 and family…

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Mull Games and the Ceannloch Pipe Band

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What a surprise to see and read about Mull Highland Games last week in Piping Press. By 1965, I was living in Glasgow but had purposely not signed up with any pipe band.  The Games being in July meant I was on holiday in Campbeltown (it was the annual Glasgow Fair) and for several years I remained with the Ceannloch-Campbeltown Pipe Band to maintain competing numbers.   By Iain Duncan…

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Lament for the Castle of Dunyveg and the Campbell Canntaireachd

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Reader Tom MacKenzie has written from Canada: ‘What was your source for the typeset version of the Campbell Canntaireachd in the article on the Lament for the Castle of Dunyveg? Having the ‘scientific notation’ with the canntaireachd is, I think, an excellent idea. Now I can sing the tune with the canntaireachd. ‘I have the ‘Pipers Meeting’ book by Patrick Molard and Jack Taylor, but the tune is not in…

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Consideration of Upper Limits on Numbers Following the Demise of two Grade 1 Bands

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Recently, two first grade pipe bands ceased operations, unable to attract enough competent pipers and drummers to compete confidently at the top level. This reduction highlights a growing issue: the remaining top bands have become so large that they absorb much of the available talent, leaving fewer skilled players to sustain other Grade 1 or 2 bands. By Allan Hamilton Historically, a greater number of strong bands existed precisely because…

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Editor’s Notebook: Bands Under Threat/ Big Rab Show/ Angus MacKay/ Talk Piobaireachd

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The well-documented concerns of the audience at last summer’s Worlds is not the only matter which seems to have been passed over by the RSPBA Board of Directors at their October meeting. What about the demise of two of our Grade 1 pipe bands, Johnstone and Closkelt? Did this merit any air time at all? There is a line in the minutes which tells us that one enlightened director did…

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