Captain Andrew Pitkeathly, Audio Recording and History

Thanks to Patrick Molard in Brittany we are today able to hear some of the superb piping of Captain Andrew Pitkeathly, former Piper to HM The Queen, and Director of Army Bagpipe Music at Edinburgh Castle. Patrick writes: ‘Hi Rab, here is a recording; it is Andrew Pitkeathly when he came over to Brittany in 1973 ( Batz-sur-Mer near La Baule), for a piping workshop and a competition. The quality of…

Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band as Reported in the 1950s

We thought that given the photographs and information we’ve all ready published on the City of Edinburgh Police Pipe Band, now sadly defunct, we should round things off with the history of the band as recorded in the Piping and Dancing Bulletin of the 1950s. Here’s how it reads: ‘The Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band; Tartan: Prince Charles Edward Stuart; Pipe Major: Duncan S. Cameron ‘The City of Edinburgh Police Pipe Band,…

Balmoral Classic Piping and Drumming

George Balderose reports: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – November 20-22, 2015: The Ninth Annual Balmoral Classic US Junior Solo Junior Bagpiping and Solo Snare Drumming Championships were won by Piper Gavin Mackay of Kitchener, Ontario, and drummer MacKenzie Chamberlain of Sarnia, Ontario.  Mackay and Chamberlain each won both events in piping and drumming. Kathleen Brown of Gaithersburg, Maryland placed 2nd in the piobaireachd event and Steven MacDonald of Pittsburgh via Florida and…

PP Editor’s Blog: RHF Pipe Major/ Black Watch Pipe Major/John MacFadyen etc.

P/M Gordon Walker has sent this: ‘The picture [above] shows D/M Ronnie Hughes and P/M Eddie Frame at Edinburgh Castle. Eddie was P/M of the Royal Highland Fusiliers before P/M Gavin Stoddart. Eddie passed away last week and his funeral is on Monday, November 30th, at Holytown Crematorium, Lanarkshire.’ Don’t forget the Gordon McCready recital in the Hole in the Wa’ pub in Dumfries tomorrow night (Tues, Nov 24). Support…

PP Editor’s Blog: John MacFadyen Recording/ Edin. Police Names etc

New recording added to the sound archive today. It’s of John MacFadyen playing Too Long in This Condition complete with open fosgailte. The tune has been made available to PP readers thanks to Chris Terry, Grahamstown, South Africa. John recorded the tune when he was on a visit to the country in the early 70s. Listen here. The above picture shows John leading the march to the games at Glenfinnan….