History: Bagpipe Maker RG Lawrie Part 2

We conclude this short history of the renowned bagpipe maker RG Lawrie. It is from the hand of its last proprietor, Arthur Lawrie. This history was given by Mr Lawrie to the late Jimmy McIntosh who kindly forwarded it to Piping Press. This article ends with a contemporary obituary for Mr Lawrie (2005). It sheds light on his personal life and his work with the company… The independence of Tanganyika,…

RSPBA Announce Judges for 2022 Majors as Season Preparation Gathers Pace

RSPBA Headquarters in Glasgow have today announced the adjudicators for all grades for the 2022 major pipe band championships. They are as follows: In parallel to the announcement, RSPBA Chief Executive Ian Embelton has spoken at length to Piping Press about the ongoing preparations for the season and he revealed that his iconic results announcements, a fixture at championships for the past 20 years, will once again fill the air…

Editor’s Notebook: Lochaber/ Bessie MacKinnon/ Henderson Pipes/ SPA Professional

Occasionally we must extract a negative from what was clearly a happy, successful event. I refer to the Lochaber Junior Piping competition held last Saturday in Fort William. Yet again we saw very few pipers or drummers from the local schools coming forward to take part. Why is this? There is a full time piping tutor in Lochaber (for the past 20 years anyway) and I believe he/she has a…

Jimmy McIntosh Scholarship / Concert for Eilidh’s Trust

The members of the Jimmy McIntosh Piobaireachd Scholarship Committee are pleased to announce that, in this inaugural year, we have selected two deserving recipients for 2022 Abby Long of Houston, Texas, and Emmitt LaBelle of Morganton, North Carolina, pictured above, were selected from a number of applicants. All of the pipers who applied demonstrated a great deal of promise, and the committee’s decision was difficult. We are confident that Abby…

Lochaber Piping Society Junior Results

I attach a copy of results from Saturday’s competition. Judging by the feedback, the competitors were absolutely delighted to get back into a proper ‘in-person’ event and all indicated that they thoroughly enjoyed their day. We had 43 entrants who, with multiple classes, played in 128 performances. The piping adjudicators (Euan Dewar, Craig Muirhead, Connor Sinclair and John Dew) all commented on the high standards of playing – possibly the…