Draw for Today’s Princes Street Gardens Contest

Draw for today’s band contest in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh: Grade Novice B / 4B – Start Time 10:00 01 Burntisland and District 02 Tranent and District 03 Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia 04 City of Edinburgh Schools 05 Stow Borders Pipe Band 06 George Watson’s College 07 Camelon & District 08 Davidson’s Mains and District Junior 09 Stockbridge 10 Queen Victoria School 11 George Heriot’s School 12…

Chicago Highland Games Band Results

Jim Sim reports from the Windy City, and apologies for the belated reporting…. I thought you might be interested in the results of the Chicago Highland Games. There were 50 band performances and the Grade 2 & 3 bands played their medleys in the concert formation again. The Chicago Games, which are now hosts the largest pipe band contest in the United States, were held in hot weather and sunny…

Detailed Information on Historic Northern Irish Pipe Band Photographs

We are grateful to RSPBA adjudicator Harry Stevenson (pictured) and to Tommy Johnston of Pipe Dreams for supplying the following information on our historical Irish bands feature of a week or so ago. Main Picture (above): This is the Red Hand Brian Boru  Pipe Band with Trevor Forster as Drum Major. They played the Brian Boru pipes which had been  developed by Henry Starck the famous pipemaker in London. Brian Boru…

Delaware to New England – Editor’s Letter from America

We are now well into the week at the New England Pipe & Drum Academy. Small but perfectly formed, with friendship, wonderful food and hard study the unfailing mix for a successful week. Tonight Tommy (Johnston) and I are off to the Stuart Highlanders band for a workshop. This is the band which recently had a Grade 1 standing but who are now down in Grade 5. How things can…

Review of Grade 2 at the UK Pipe Band Championships

Some say his Ulster fry is as dry as an Arabian sand shoe….others that his flashes of brilliance are in his hose tops…..yet more that his utterings and muttering are those of a havering Hector – and anything but heroic. But he is our firm family favourite and you just gotta love him…He is, after all, the one and only MacStig…… I think it was those 1970s heavy duty philosophers…