I’m  Hazel Whyte, 15, and play with the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland. This is my second year playing with the band and I was lucky enough to be selected to go and play at the 2018 Ortigueira Festival in Spain. This was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down.  On arrival in Spain we then had a  two hour drive to the high school, where we stayed, and the realisation…

Margaret Dunn reports: Here are the CLASP results from Northern Meeting 2018, which was held in the Eden Court alongside the professional competitions on Friday, 31st August.  Judge for the day was Alex Gandy. Pictured l – r: Stewart Allan (Gd 2) Robert Wilson(Gd 1) & Robert Thomson(Gd 3) Grade 1 Piobaireachd 1st Bianca Kail 2nd Robert Wilson 3rd Stephen Ross Grade 2 Piobaireachd 1st Stephen Whitton 2nd Stewart Allan…

I agree with Piping Convenor Alan Forbes that the Northern Meeting’s two-day festival of piping was a great success. With the quality of the playing on show it could be considered nothing less. I sat through all of the Clasp and Gold Medal competitions bar four performances, and heard the 40 or so tunes from a position only five rows back from the stage. Important that. Up in the gods…

By Our Special Correspondent As Field Marshal players erupted, ran around, jigged, jumped hugged and entertained all of us with their antics in the seconds after Ian Embelton had pronounced them World Champions, one of their number, Piper Matt Wilson, naturally, joined in. His P/M Richard Parkes had just equalled the record with 12 Worlds wins after all. But very few will have realised that Matt himself had his own record…

Katie Mackenzie of the Blas Festival has sent the following…. This year’s Blas Festival, a showcase of the best of Highland culture, features a healthy and impressive line-up of pipers as well as celebrating some of the great pipers of the past. A name synonymous with all things related to Highland bagpipes will be the centre of attraction on the first day of this September’s Blas festival. The music of the…