Readers Respond to Competition 2/4 March Report: Judges Don’t Select New Music

A selection of the responses to yesterday’s article by Dale Brown on the paucity of modern 2/4 march compositions on the competition boards…. Vincent Janowski: There might be a touch of light coming into your cave, but, again, your post and this list of great tunes ignores the obvious: at one point, most of these tunes were considered ‘modern’. Without today’s easy access to printed books and scores, it must…

Editor’s Notebook: Glasgow Skye/ Bobby’s Uniform/ Aberdeen Piping Club/ Bill Caudill/ New Books

That’s the spirit! In these gloomy times yesterday’s news that Glasgow Skye are back was just the lift the pipe band community needed. We’ve lost far too many bands over the years. Just look at the lists in Alistair Aitken’s article, also yesterday. Even in recent times we all know bands that have lost sponsorship or a pipe major or fallen out with the drum corps and bingo, they’re history….

The 1948 World Pipe Band Championships – Part 2

Continuing with my look at the 1948 World Pipe Band Chanpionships based on the old programe kindly sent to me by Don Bradford, I have some observations on the list of bands (see here): First prize in the Grade 1/Open contest was £50 plus the News of the World trophy. The high number of bands from mining communities at that time. Grade 4 comprised only ladies pipe bands. I had…

Glasgow v Edinburgh and the World Pipe Band Championships – Part 1

Following the recent article on Piping Press about the history of the World Pipe Band Championships (WPBC), well known Pipe Major and piper Don Bradford has kindly sent me a scanned copy of the official programme for the Worlds in 1948 which he had found alongside an old set of pipes he had acquired.  The programme, priced at one shilling (5p in present day currency), contained some interesting information which…

Inverness Cancels European Pipe Band Championships

The Inverness Courier newspaper is reporting today that the local council has withdrawn sponsorship for the 2023 European Pipe Band Championships due to be held the city’s Bught Park next July. The competition was seen as ‘no longer financially viable’ according to councillors. The report reads: ‘It is with deep regret that we must announce the cancellation of Piping Inverness 2023, incorporating the European Pipe Band Championship. ‘Due to the…