Category: Letters

Walter Cowan 1936-2026

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Walter Cowan, who passed away peacefully in a nursing home in Annan last Friday, took his piping seriously – but not himself. It was an endearing quality which made him popular with everyone. When espousing knowledge and instruction in classroom, band hall or judging bench, there was always his pawky humour to lighten the load. His contribution to piping and pipe bands in the south west of Scotland and further…

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Guide to the Games News/ John Drysdale

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Bryan Spalding, Piping Convenor at Inveraray Games: I wonder if you would be kind enough please to distribute the following press release to your readership/membership? We are currently updating our Games website and the website administrator is updating our entry system. This work should be completed later this or early next month and we intend to open entries for our contests after successful testing. The scheduled date for entries opening…

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Grade 1 Numbers: Readers Have Their Say

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Last week in his Notebook, the Editor bemoaned the dearth of pipe bands entered for the Grade 1 British Championship (Ingliston, May 30). There are only nine, playing in this order: 1 SLOT 2 Police Federation 3 FMM 4 Shotts 5 Boghall 6 Fife Police 7 Inveraray 8 Scottish Power 9 Ravara. Given this low number in the grade, he once more urged a cap on numbers and also voiced…

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Victorian Pipers’ Results/ Virginia Championship Results

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On Saturday April 18th the Victorian Pipers’ Association held its first in-person contest of the 2026 season at Rupertswood Mansion in the grounds of Salesian College, Sunbury (Melbourne, Australia). Forty-one competitors registered for the competition. This was the first time a contest was held at this venue and it holds some historical significance. By Jonathon Quay, President, Victorian Pipers Association The contest was sponsored by the Sunshine Foundation, a charity created…

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Readers Letters: P/M Hamilton Workman and the RSPBA Pipe Band College

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We have received the following comments regarding articles in this week’s Piping Press. Firstly this from reader Joe Hardy on ‘Remembering P/M Hamilton Workman, HLI’: ‘This is a truly wonderful memory of Hammie. So many pipers today don’t really know about him and don’t understand how important he was to piping in the U.S. I attended the North American Academy of Piping [NAAPD] every summer between 1985 and 2007.  ‘Hammie…

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