Grim, grey, wet and well worn, that’s our intrepid MacStig, not Lurgan. Well, maybe both…….  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Victorian Public Parks with low lying aspects, in small towns with limited infrastructure, where one bus can block the main arterial street and a gilet jaune in a rain mac, waving arms, is the central control – what could possibly go wrong? The weather was the literal dampener in…

BY ROBERT MACNEILL In sunny and hot weather, the 2019 BC Highland Games and Scottish Festival was held on June 15 at its new venue of Lafarge Lake Park in Coquitlam, BC. 125 solo players and 14 bands competed. Alastair Lee, Grant Maxwell, and Lauren Tietze won the aggregates for Open Piping, Snare Drumming, and Tenor Drumming, respectively. Alastair Lee also captured the Open Piobaireachd on the Friday evening. The…

The annual games were held today at Hazelhead Park, Aberdeen. There was a good entry; weather changeable. Piping Convenor Dr Jack Taylor: ‘Decent turnout of 10 plus 14 juniors which is encouraging. Only problem was culture clash with the ‘big stage’ behind the Piobaireachd board blasting out a thudding dance beat from time to time. ‘I’ve my eye on a quieter spot amongst the rhododendrons for next year. This was excellent…

By Mike Rogers Congratulations to all the participants in the 33rd annual United States Piping Foundation Amateur and Professional Piping Championships, held in memory of founder Maclean Macleod on 15 Jun 2019, in the Amy DuPont Music Building at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE! In the Amateur events there were 7 pipers from throughout North America, and 14 in the Professional events.   The adjudicators for the Amateur Competitions…

The annual UK Pipe Band Championship moved to a wet Lurgan Park in Northern Ireland today. The results in Grade 1 were: 1 SLOT2 FMM3 Inveraray4 S Power5 Boghall6 Fife Police with the drumming going to SLOT. St Laurence achieves straight 1s in all judging categories. They are captured celebrating below in this office shot by photographer Lee Bisset: The other grades:G21 Closkelt2 Ravara3 Manorcunningham4 MacKenzie Caledonian5 Annan6 Buchan PetersonDrums:…