By Jeannie Campbell It is interesting to note that in the days before the advent of the ladies’ pipe band most lady solo piping com­petitors were pictured wearing a tartan skirt with dark stockings. The subject of dress and whether ladies should play at all has caused controversy over the years. In 1938 Mr Thomas Reid, a member of the Canadian Parliament, wrote that ‘Although women may become efficient mistresses…

After a long day of competition across multiple categories for pipes, snare, tenor and bass, the prize giving ceremony in the grand ballroom of the Marriot Hotel celebrated the 2019 winners. With some of the best prizes on the circuit being presented (pipes, drums, travel stipends), not to mention the classic Winter Storm medals, a packed house awaited the pronouncements.  Attendees will go through workshops today with the judges now…

With European time cracking along, our piping and drumming friends and colleagues drawn to North America for the Midwest Highland Arts Fund ‘Winter Storm’ weekend are underway in the competition segment of the event. The above picture shows winners from last year’s contest: Alastair Lee, Jamie Troy, both British Columbia, Canada, Alex Gandy from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Andrew Carlisle from Northern Ireland now Pittsburgh, USA, and Andrew Lee, British Columbia….

The following article was commissioned by PP Publishing for Pipe Band Magazine in 2005. Written and researched by piping historian Jeannie Campbell MBE, it traces the history of ladies’ bands from the 1930s onwards. Today, ladies have taken their rightful place at the top level in pipe bands but it was not always so…. The Braemar Girls’ Pipe Band (above) claimed to be the first girls’ pipe band in Scotland…