Category: Pipe Bands

Editor’s Notebook: Harry McNulty/ Angus Award/ Jeannie Book/ Gunn Pipes/ Pitlochry Piobaireachd

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Sad to report the passing of Harry McNulty, one of the unassuming heroes of the pipe band world. Those who played under him at Lothian & Borders Police (1976–1982), B Cal./ Scottish Power (1982–1992), all testify to his expertise as a pipe major and musician. Harry was also central to the work of the William Sinclair & Co pipe making firm, designing and testing chanters for the renowned company throughout…

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Northern Meeting Revisited – Part 1

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A superb performance of Port Urlar earned Calum Brown, Aberdeen (pictured above), the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal at Inverness. His father Graham has supplied a partial recording of Calum’s winning performance, from the taorluath onwards. Graham has also sent us a video of the ground recorded at the graveside of P/M John Stewart, Aberdeen City Police, who taught both father and son. It is understood Calum’s complete performance…

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The London Recital Returns for 2026

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Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, The London Recital will return on Friday, 2 October 2026, with Callum Beaumont (above left) and P/M Ben Duncan headlining an evening of world class ceòl mòr and ceòl beag. This year’s recital will be held at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate in the City of London, bringing together pipers and supporters from across the piping community for an evening of music and whisky, once…

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Editor’s Notebook: Northern Meeting/ Bronze Medal/ Band News/ Horst Kraus

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To Inverness today for the 2026 Northern Meeting, the second of the two major solo piping gatherings to be held within the past week. This year is unique in that the Clasp competition has been split into two Thursday heats, six from each going forward to a final on Friday. Most of the top players would be in Inverness on the Thursday anyway for the Former Winners’ MSR but the…

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P/M William Lyons BEM, 1940 – 2026

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William Lyons was taught to play the pipes, as a boy, at the Corbet Pipe Band, just outside Banbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland. He joined the Irish Guards, in 1957.  During his service, he guest-played with one of Ireland’s top bands of the time, Dromara, under Pipe Major Harold Hook. His first piping instructor in the army was P/M KG Roe of the Scots Guards, and he always described…

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