Winning the Worlds 50 Years Ago – 1st Port Glasgow BB Celebrate in Style

The 1st Port Glasgow Boys’ Brigade Pipe Band won the World Juvenile Championship in 1972.  The Golden Jubilee was to be celebrated by a parade and dinner on Friday 30th September.  When the day dawned it was raining, only as it can in Inverclyde.  To make matters worse a gale was blowing.  It seemed that Hurricane Ian (their spelling, not mine) had taken a detour from Florida to pay a…

History: Bob Brown and that Final Teaching Tour to Australia

We continue the report from the special edition of the South Australian Pipe Band Association Newsletter which outlined RU Brown’s 1972 tour of South Australia and Tasmania, his teaching, his recitals and his illness and death. The newsletter contained many tributes including this from Sir Lyall McEwan, Chieftain of Adelaide Highland Games. The picture above was taken in South Africa in 1970 when P/M Brown was on another recital tour………

Editor’s Notebook: Band Medleys/ Mod Piping/ Hector’s Tune/ Barry Brougham

How many of you can add a nod of agreement to this statement from Danish piper Bernard Bouhadana? It was forwarded to PP the other day from social media: For next season he would like to see bands, ‘Throw the concept of reprise in every single medley into the garbage. All bands sound the same. Is it really much fun? Play the same tune again after the last tune. Play…

Editor’s Notebook: John Ban MacKenzie Gravestone/ Rule Change after 214BB Success/ Lochryan Pipe Band Tutor Search

Correspondent Duncan Watson has been in touch: ‘It might be of interest to add this to the bit re John Ban. The headstone is in the burial ground at Kinnetas which is up the hill from the village of Strathpeffer. ‘I have taken one or two people to the grave for some kind of inspirational visit. I have taken photographs of the headstone and of the one next to it which…

History: Competition Wins by the Pipe Band of the 214 Glasgow the Boys’ Brigade 

The funeral of Hector Russell takes place at Cardross Crematorium tomorrow, October 5, at 2.15pm. It is hard to believe that this article was submitted by him to Piping Press less than a month ago, on September 13. His words to the Editor accompanying the article make poignant reading: ‘Robert, I hope this travels okay. Tell me please if it arrives. It is almost complete as may be seen but…