Category: Letters

Reader Requests Help with Medal Mystery

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A few years ago while I was living down south, I acquired an extremely large, extremely ornate silver medal presented in 1900 by a piping association that seems to have vanished without trace. My searches at the time for information about the association and the recipient drew a complete blank. Piping Press’s network of readers is a good deal wider than any I could tap into then, and if the…

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History of the Clan MacRae Society Pipe Band – Conclusion

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During 1967 the unrest within the ranks of the band continued and it was clear a number of members had decided to call it a day. However, to maintain continuity, the group waited till after the last competition of the season before amicably departing in as civilised a manner as was possible in the circumstances. The members were pipers James (Jimmy) MacLeod, Eddie McLellan, Finlay MacDonald, Hugh MacInnes, Donald MacLeod…

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Editor’s Notebook: Ronnie & Anne’s Wedding/ Nat & Worlds/ Piobaireachd & Bands/ Matt’s Silver/ John McLellan DCM

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It’s not often you get three such giants of piping in the same informal photograph. It shows P/M Ronnie Lawrie and his wife Anne on their wedding day in 1955. All pipers will recognise the piper on the left as Arthur Gillies, and on the right, Duncan Johnstone. The bridesmaid was Anne’s friend Mona Byrne. ‘Big’ Ronnie was born in 1927 and died in 2008. He was the gentlest of…

More Editor’s Notebook: Ronnie & Anne’s Wedding/ Nat & Worlds/ Piobaireachd & Bands/ Matt’s Silver/ John McLellan DCM

Entries Open for New Junior Piobaireachd Contest/ Callum Beaumont Western Isles Recital

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Entries are now open for a new junior piobaireachd competition being run by George Watson’s College in Edinburgh. The inaugural ‘Caritas Banner’ Competition is on Sunday 26 November. Sponsors are Kintail Bagpipes and the Piobaireachd Society. The school, founded in 1741, has as its motto ‘Ex Corde Caritas’ (Love from the Heart). It has a worldwide wide reputation for promoting piping and drumming through its championship winning bands. Ross Harvey,…

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History of the Clan MacRae Society Pipe Band – Part 4

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The spirit of the MacRae goes back to 1880 and the 3rd Volunteer Bt. Highland Light Infantry (7th HLI), with P/M Farquhar MacRae in charge. Into 1913 it became the City of Glasgow Pipe Band, the idea of sporting Hunting MacRae tartan born from within its ranks, and then on to the final name change and the birth of the Clan MacRae Society Pipe Band. Throughout the band’s illustrious existence…

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