NI Piper of the Year/ Piobaireachd by the Sea

Organiser Ken Stewart reports: ‘The annual Piper of the Year competition was held last Saturday in the Adair Arms Hotel in Ballymena. This competition is promoted by the Northern Ireland Piping Society and is an invitation only event. Competitors are selected on merit determined by their competition results, in Ireland, during the current year. ‘Each player is required to compete in the MSR and Piobaireachd sections with the Piper of…

PP Editor’s Blog: Edith Cavell/ Nicol-Brown Contest/Gold Medal Tunes

Many will have read yesterday of the 100th anniversary of the death of heroine  Nurse Edith Cavell, executed for spying during WW1. She had served in a hospital in Belgium and treated Allied, German and Austrian soldiers but was executed by a German firing squad on October 12, 1915. Her death prompted outrage in Britain with thousands subsequently inspired to join up for the war effort.  Miss Cavell is buried at Norwich…

National Mod Piping Results (updated with Pictures, Audio, Video and Comment)

Robert Wallace: Jonathan Greenlees emerged as Champion Piper at the National Mod piping competitions held in Oban on Saturday. Jonathan won the Ceol Mor with Lament for Donald Duaghal MacKay and placed third in the MSR to take the overall prize. Only eight pipers competed in the senior events although 14 had entered. The standard was mixed but the prizewinners in the above events all played well with Jonathan’s Donald…

Captain JA MacLellan Contest Entries Now Open/ Shotts , Falkirk Contests

WO1 Martin MacDonald, Senior Instructor at the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming has sent this: ‘We  will be holding the third Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Piping Championship at Inchdrewer House, Redford Barracks, Edinburgh on the 14th of November this year. As usual the competition will cover C, B and P/A Grades for both Piobaireachd and MSR and also an Open Hornpipe and Jig. Entries will be taken through…

Argyllshire Gathering 2015 – A Reprise

It is now just over a month since this year’s Argyllshire Gathering …. gone but not forgotten, certainly not by those who had a successful visit to Oban. In this report, the piping correspondent of the London Times, Angus Nicol, gives a comprehensive round up of all the winners and the background to the Gathering. His report also affords us the opportunity to run some photographs we missed first time round. Those wishing to…