PP Editor’s Blog (Updated): SPA KO & Dates/ Owen MacNiven/ Piob Soc/ WW1 Memorial

Revised dates for Scottish Pipers’ Association contests are as follows: The Professional competition will now be held on April 16. The provisional date was April 23rd but for various reasons this was unsuitable.  The Adult Amateur and Veterans contest is on March 26 to allow some of those attending the Piobaireachd Society Conference from overseas to stay on for a week to compete. The Juvenile/ Amateur contest will be in September,…

PP Editor’s Blog: Wm Sinclair/ Northern Meeting 1990/ US Scholarship/ Letter

Mentioning Duncan Campbell as one of the old school of Scottish bagpipe makers  reminded me of a visit to Edinburgh a few weeks ago when I was able to call in to the Wm Sinclair workshop in Leith. In all my piping years I’d never been before and it was a pleasure to meet Alastair Sinclair, the present proprietor, a master craftsmen who is carrying on the fine tradition of…

New Recordings Added to Archive/ Letter from Falklands Veteran

Two new ceol mor recordings have been added to the PP Audio Archive. They are Lament for the Children (ground and Var.2) played by John MacDonald, Inverness, and the Earl of Seaforth’s Salute played in full by Jimmy McIntosh (pictured). Check out both here. Listening figures on the archive prove how popular this free facility is on Piping Press. The statistics vary depending on how long a recording has been published….

PP Editor’s Blog: Argylls Book/ Oban Pipe Band/New Pipe Band etc….

P/M Ian McLellan reports on progress with the new Argylls book of bagpipe music. Ian writes: ‘Hi Rab, I thought you might be interested in the above photograph of the personnel involved in compiling the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Collection of Bagpipe Music.  ‘From the left are  myself,  P/M Jimmy Banks, Captain Gordon Rowan, A & SH, Walter Cowan and James Henderson. Keeping you up to date on the progress, all…

Rutherglen Pipe Band Letter & Two New Piobaireachd Recordings

We start today with a new letter from piping researcher Hector Russell, Helensburgh. Hector has been delving into the archives of the 214th Glasgow Company of the Boys’ Brigade Pipe Band and discovering many interesting old photographs and information about a band that was a hotbed of top-level piping and drumming tuition during the latter half of the 20th Century. The picture above is of the Rutherglen Pipe Band and features…