Tribute Band to Star at Saturday’s All Ireland Championships

Some time ago an idea was hatched by a few people who had competed during the 1970s to acknowledge the introduction of the Medley format for the World Pipe Band Championships. Prior to Aberdeen 1970 all World Championships had been conducted within the MSR format, with one pipe and one drum adjudicator on duty. The new Medley format required the use of a third adjudicator for the new discipline of…

Know Your Judges: Bob Worrall Part 2

Twenty five years ago Pipe Band Magazine began a series of interviews with pipe band judges. The first, in January 2000, was with Canadian Bob Worrall. This is the second instalment of the the interview with Bob. Read the first here. Despite the passage of time, many of Bob’s views remain valid and topical today……. Which bands have been your greatest influence?Strathclyde Police and Muirheads. Best band performance you have…

Piping and Drumming Scholarships at Top Fee Paying School Now Available

Glenalmond School in Perthshire is in the position, for the first time in my 27+ years here, to offer scholarships to pipers and pipe band snare drummers, writes Brian Elrick. I’m keen for this to reach as wide an audience as possible as it can offer life-changing educational opportunities for successful applicants. I run the Pipes & Drums programme at the school and Sandy Bayne is my snare drumming instructor. Sandy…

Northern Ireland News: County Fermanagh/ Mid Ulster/ Moira/ George Ussher MBE

It was unfortunate that after weeks of beautiful weather it should break just when the 2025 pipe band season got underway at the County Fermanagh Championships in Enniskillen. Not all bands or drum majors experienced the inclement weather, but that was really by good fortune.  The adjudication panel were Willie Garrett and Richard Parkes MBE (Piping), Gordon Parkes (Drumming), Mark Wilson (Ensemble), David Brownlee and Alicia Dickson Hamilton. Ravara, on…

Worlds Seating and Prices Reaction Continues

To be fair to Glasgow Life, the crowd photo being used in this year’s promo for the Worlds is the 2024 stand. It had had two blocks (A and B) with six rows of seating in each block, writes Iain Duncan   The ‘Country Fair’ covered trailer stand aberration (pictured below) only ever made one appearance, in 2023, had only two blocks, A and B, and from memory had only…