The Atholl Gathering took place today in the grounds of Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Perthshire. Weather was cold, wet, windy and overcast but brightened up later. The Champion Piper was Sarah Muir. Runner-up: Angus MacColl Snr. In all sixty plus adult pipers entered the seniors. Three tunes of each were asked for in the Piobaireachd and in the Ceol Beag heats. The MSR final required three tunes of each and the H&J…

Here are the results from the County Fermanagh Championships held at Enniskillen yesterday. There was an entry of twenty three bands including half a dozen from the Irish Pipe Band Association and thirty two drum majors. While it was a dull day it stayed dry enabling a decent crowd to enjoy the competition which was held on the spacious Broadmeadow grounds of the Lakeland Forum Leisure Complex against the background of…

A wet day in West Lothian saw young Bobby Allen (above) from Chryston take all three firsts in the juniors as did Gordon McCready in the seniors. Eighteen played in the senior ceol beag and 15 in the ceol mor. Piob: 1 G McCready, Battle of the Pass of Crieff 2 John Dew, Battle of Auldearn No23 Jonathan Simpson, Tulloch Ard M: 1 G McCready 2 Bradley Parker 3 Calum…

A very sensible comment by drummer John Scullion may have slipped your notice. John was talking about my article on band sizes. Here’s what he wrote: ‘What’s wrong with a max of 25 pipers to sign for a band and 20 being the max number to compete?‘If you want to sign another piper, one has to leave, and the same for the following: 12 snares max for signing, max competing…

In warm and sunny weather, the 2019 Victoria Highland Games and Celtic Festival was held on May 18 and 19 at Topaz Park in Victoria, BC. 149 solo players and 12 bands competed. James P. Troy, Grant Maxwell and Bridget Hall won the aggregates for Open Piping, Snare Drumming, and Tenor Drumming, respectively. On the Sunday, the Open Piping Piobaireachd was won by Alastair Lee and the significant prize money…