BC Pacific Northwest Games, Canada

Kevin MacLean reports: Under sunny and hot weather, the final Highland games on the BC Pipers’ Association circuit, the 2017 Pacific Northwest Highland Games was held on July 29 & 30 at the Enumclaw Expo Center in Enumclaw, WA. 116 solo players and 13 bands competed. The event concluded with the announcement of the BCPA season-long championship Grand Aggregate Awards. The Grand Aggregate Award winners and partial results of the 2017 Pacific…

Review of the Grade 1 Competition at the 2017 Scottish Pipe Band Championships

I have to say that I did not agree with the result in Grade 1 at the Scottish Pipe Band Championships at Levengrove Park, Dumbarton, last weekend. The winners, Inveraray (above) were good, very good, but in my view they were bested in musicality and tone by Field Marshal Montgomery. However, all congratulations to P/M Stuart Liddell on his success. The judges had him first and that is all that…

Family of Tragic Eilidh Issue Heartfelt Thanks to Piping World

The family of 14-year-old Eilidh MacLeod who lost her life in the Manchester terrorist bomb outrage on May 22 have issued a statement thanking the piping and pipe band world for their messages of support and condolences at their loss. Eilidh, from Barra in the Outer Hebrides, was one of 22 people who died when a bomb was detonated at the Manchester Arena at the end of an Ariana Grande…

Inveraray are New Scottish Pipe Band Champions

Inveraray held on to the Scottish Pipe Band Champions crown for 2017 in a close fought contest at Levengrove Park, Dumbarton. Runners up were Field Marshal Montgomery with St Laurence O’Toole from Dublin third. SLoT also won the drumming. Best band on parade (Marching and Discipline): Buchan Peterson. Part of the Inveraray front rank is pictured above. 140 bands took part across all grades. Conditions were not cold but blustery…

Scottish Pipe Band Championships Underway

Blustery, damp conditions confronted the first bands on at today’s Scottish Pipe Band Championships at Levengrove Park, Dumbarton. The picturesque park juts out into the confluence of the rivers Clyde and Leven and as such can be very exposed in high winds. Today’s competition, the penultimate championship of the pipe band summer, is seen as an important pointer for the World Pipe Band Championships on August 11 and 12, though…