PP Editor’s Blog: Pitlochry/ Worlds/ Glenfiddich/ Donald MacLeod

What a pity to see that there will only be two bands competing in Grade 1 at Pitlochry on Saturday. In my day all the top bands took part. It was seen as a ‘final fling’ of the year and the Perthshire town had its very own pipe band atmosphere that day. For the finale all the bands used to line up in one long file and play together at…

PP Editor’s Blog: Northern Meeting/BBC/ Letters etc

The Northern Meeting Clasp competition is a main feature today with a review of that event and of the successful two-day festival of piping held at Inverness.  There was a lot of traffic last week about US piper Dan Lyden playing in torrential rain at Cowal, stoic to the last. But we over here have our own weather warrior too, in the shape of Gold Medallist Faye Henderson. Alister Sinclair,…

PP Editor’s Blog: Oban Gold Medal Critique/ New Juvenile Band/ Shotts Jnr. Contest/ Grampian League

Read adjudicator Dr Jack Taylor’s comments on the 2015 Argyllshire Gathering Gold Medal – erudite, articulate and analytical. You’ll always find the best writers on Piping Press. News of a new juvenile pipe band from Oliver Brownlie. Check out the notice: Still with the bands Ewan McAllister of World Champions Shotts & Dykehead has sent this notice about the forthcoming Shotts Juvenile contest: ‘Building on the success of 2014 we are…

PP Editor’s Blog: Monktonhall Pipe Band/ New England Camp/Worlds etc

Thanks to Les Hutt, Inverness, for reminding me of the Glenurquhart and Invergordon Games tomorrow (see Comments). There’s certainly plenty of opportunity for pipers this Saturday to get out and have a tune and I  hope as many as possible will take advantage of the last few weekends of the games. Les’s old band were the Monktonhall Colliery and he learned his piping under Willie McBride, a fine piper and a first…

Grade 1 Review of Worlds Final/ Tain Games

We conclude our extensive coverage of the World Pipe Band Championships with a detailed look at the Grade 1 final from editor Robert Wallace.  There are comments on the individual band performances and some suggestions as to how an already excellent competition could be improved.  Read the article here and also check out our other features on the Worlds by clicking the relevant headings on this page. Going by yesterday’s readership figures…