Pipe Major Richard Parkes MBE was in the spotlight earlier this month when on Monday 1st July he was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Literature for services to music from Queens University, Belfast (QUB), and then three days later on Thursday 4th July he received a second and similar Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ulster. The respect that he is held in, particularly by the members of…

It is the year of Galicia at the 2019 Lorient Festival in Brittany and as ever the promoters have produced a very striking poster and promotional video for the event. Topping the bill is Carlos Nunez the best known of all Galician pipers and a rivetting performer. I don’t have any info on the Scottish contingent this year other than the well known ceilidh group Skippinish. The festival runs from…

A good standard from the youngsters at this picturesque meeting. The result was accumulated from performances of two 2/4 marches, two 6/8s, two jigs and a medley.1 Christopher Happs2 Bobby Allen3 Josh Esson4 Kyle Gordon The judge was Christopher Armstrong.

William Geddes continued his good form at a sunny Rosneath winning the piobaireachd and placing in the March. Angus MacColl Jnr took both light music firsts and also placed fourth in the ceol mor. William (left) and Angus are pictured above. P/A Piobaireachd1 William Geddes, Earl of Seaforth’s Salute2 Allan Russell3 Darach Urquhart, Rout of Glen Fruin4 Angus MacColl Jnr, MacLeod of Raasay’s SaluteJudges: A Forbes, N Mulvie P/A March1…

A beautiful sunny day at the southern end of Loch Lomond. All piobaireachd events were judged by Malcolm McRae and William Morrison. They reported an outstanding winner in William Geddes. All ceol beag was judged by Barry Donaldson. There was an amateur event for CLASP participants at Balloch and we hope to bring you those results later. The above picture shows junior prizewinners Ryan Cupples-Menendez, Christopher Happs and Bobby Allen….