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…

Pipe Bands Australia have sent this… An annual ballot of bands was conducted in March and last month members of national council considered all proposals that had been supported by a majority of bands voting in the ballot. Council and national management committee also considered throughout April and May additional feedback on all proposals that included endorsement of a collective decision by branch chairman to defer a determination on proposals…

By Alistair Aitken OBE, former RSPBA adjudicator Following a winter and spring with a fairly limited number of indoor pipe band competitions, the 2019 outdoor competition season in the UK commenced over the weekend 11th and 12th May with five competitions, all reportedly encountering favourable weather.  These competitions took place at Dunbar in East Lothian and Ards in Northern Ireland on Saturday 11 May; and Sunday 12 May saw competitions…