Huge £50,000 Prizemoney Boost for Piobaireachd at Lonach Games

Lonach Games has announced that this year, and for the next 50 years, a generous donor has given £1,000 towards the Piobaireachd competitions, writes Jack Taylor. The date is Saturday 26th August, between Oban and Inverness, so is a golden opportunity for pipers from all over to come to beautiful Strathdon in Aberdeenshire. Enter here before 13th August preferably, although this year entries are accepted on the field. The winner…

The Australian Ladies Pipe Band – Conclusion of the Definitive History

Piping historian Jeannie Campbell brings our tale to a conclusion with a recap on the car accident which cost the lives of three people, including a member of the Lawrie bagpipe-making dynasty, and injured two members of the band…. The band was honoured by a Royal Command to play before the King and Queen at Braemar on 9th September, 1926, where they marched past the royal party. One paper reported…

The Australian Ladies Pipe Band – The Definitive History Part 2

In December 1925, New Zealand officials cabled their Australian counterparts asking whether there were any objections to granting passports to the band members so they could proceed to Canada and elsewhere. Australia responded that passports should not be issued unless there was evidence of parental permission for the under-age members of the band.  By Jeannie Campbell Furthermore, each musician would have to pay a £50 repatriation bond as surety in…

The Australian Ladies Pipe Band – The Definitive History Part 1

I have read the various stories on Piping Press concerning the Australian Ladies. According to newspaper reports, on their arrival in Glasgow on Thursday, August 26th, en route to Cowal, the band was welcomed at the station by 42,000 enthusiastic citizens and the Clan MacRae Society Pipe Band, the champion band of Scotland, under their P/M William Fergusson, which played them to their hotel. Membership of the band was restricted…

My Father, P/M Robert Reid – Part 4

We continue with our correspondence from Robert Reid jnr. to Jimmy McIntosh. This abridged letter is dated 28th September, 1993. In the firing line are Alastair Campsie, Andrew MacNeill, Colonsay, and William Connell…. I can’t recall any article being written specifically about my father other than obituaries in the Piping Times, the Glasgow Herald, Daily Record and the Oban Times around August/September 1965. Occasionally some journalist would come into my…