History of the Scottish Piping Society of London/ Letters: City of Whitehorse/ Ceol Beag Tunes

The annual competition run by the Scottish Piping Society of London takes place a week on Saturday in the Kensington Conference Centre. Since the early 1930s it has been one of the highlights of the solo calendar. Today we begin a look back at the history of this illustrious Society and its early beginnings tracing the origins of its famous competitions for the Bratach Gorm and the Gillies Cup. The…

Tommy Millar MBE

It is with sadness that we report on the passing of Tommy Millar a true stalwart of the pipe band movement in Northern Ireland throughout his life. Tommy (84) had not been in the best of health for a number of years. His funeral service was held today in his home town of Ballymena. He was known throughout the Province and was often quoted as saying that the pipe band…

PP Ed’s Blog: World Drumming/ Gus MacLennan/ Nick pic/Q’land Contest/ Letters

One has to be careful about treading in areas where one’s knowledge is limited, but did anyone else notice that of the top six solo pipe band drummers from Saturday’s World Solos not one is Scottish? Is this something we should be concerned about? I don’t know about other grades, but in the Adult Final we had: 1 Steven McWhirter (Northern Ireland), 2 Michael McKenna (Ireland) 3 Jake Jørgensen (Denmark)…

World Solo Drumming – Steven McWhirter is the Champion (updated)

Steven McWhirter  of the Inveraray and District Pipe Band is the World Solo Drumming Champion for 2016. He emerged with most points after two hard fought disciplines at the championships held today at Glasgow Caledonian University. It is Steven’s sixth consecutive title and his seventh in total. The prize list in the Adult Final, livestreamed to thousands of viewers around the world for the first time, was: 1st Steven McWhirter…

City of Whitehorse Band Removed from Membership of Pipe Bands Australia

Pipe Bands Australia have today issued the following statement regarding the City of Whitehorse Pipe Band: The PBA-retained solicitor on the City of Whitehorse matter has today communicated the decision of National Council made on 13 October 2016 to the band and to registered players of the band.  The following statement will be issued by PBA on our communications channels and also to international associations with whom we have an…