Category: Letters

Boost for Highland Junior Pipers/ Australian Juvenile Piping/ Schools Teaching Jobs

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After a few years’ absence, we are delighted to confirm that Inverness Piping Society will once again be running our junior solo piping competitions this year, writes Alastair Campbell, Secretary. This event has a long history, and is a key element of the Society’s remit to promote solo piping in the Highlands.  Many past winners have gone on to enjoy successful piping careers. We would be grateful if tutors, parents…

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Clan MacRae and P/M Andy Bell: Memories from Down Under and Willie Fergusson’s March

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I did enjoy Iain Duncan’s articles on the old Clan MacRae band. Congratulations to him; they were very informative and well written and certainly did bring back some memories. Iain mentioned my old pal Andy Bell who was one of the nicest blokes I have ever met in pipe band circles. I lost touch with Andy after I joined Muirheads and subsequently emigrated to Australia. By Gordon  Ferguson In 1985,…

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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…

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