After considerable pressure from their membership, the Competing Pipers Association and the promoters of the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting have rethought their Silver Medal qualiying rules for 2019/2020. The main criticism of the original plan announced only two weeks ago was the lack of consultation before decisions were taken and also the absence of any qualifying event in the southern hemisphere. Read our earlier story here. These now seem…

Canadian piper, writer and composer Michael Grey has published a review of the new children’s book published by Piping Press…. I picked up the new children’s book, Young MacCrimmon and the Silver Chanter as a Christmas present for a (lucky) kid on my list. It’s a rare book that doesn’t gift its reader some new insight or bit of knowledge. Written by Mick Broderick and Robert Wallace and illustrated by Norman Matheson, this children’s book didn’t…

Spent an enjoyable day at Johnstone Pipe Band yesterday assessing young pipers for their PDQB exams. A nice bunch of kids and before we began I got them together for a short pep talk. I explained that this was not a competition but an assessment and that all they had to do was play their five chosen tunes cleanly and correctly and they had to pass. I asked them to…

Reader Clive Douglas has followed up his programme from Oban in 1977 with excerpts from various Cowal programmes, in particular 1954. We are very grateful to Clive for forwarding information and photographs which we know will be of great interest to Piping Press readers….. Clive writes: ‘Nice photo of a very young Jim Henderson, winner of the Warner Trophy in 1952, and the wee girl dancer winning the AD Cameron…

Well done to Mike Grey for highlighting the band circle issue on his recent blog. Readers will know this is a particular hobby horse of mine. Mike writes: ‘I came across a pic today, courtesy of Barry Ewen. Here is a photo (thank you, Barry) of the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band – near the beginning of the vintage of my membership – competing in a crescent-shaped stance. This was 1984….