Uist & Barra 2023 Results

This competition was held today, March 4, at the Piping Centre, McPhater Street, Glasgow. Pipers were given their tunes one week in advance. There was a large and appreciative audience throughout the day. It was the first U&B since 2020. Ceòl Mòr, Glasgow Highland Club Medal and Finlay MacKenzie Challenge Trophy1 Craig Sutherland, Park Piobaireachd No.22 John Mulhearn, Queen Anne’s Lament3 Angus D MacColl, End of the High Bridge 4 Sandy Cameron,…

Review: Archie Kenneth Quaich 2023

The ever-popular amateur piobaireachd contest for the Archie Kenneth Quaich and Piobaireachd Society Banner was held on 25th February. This was our 31st contest – and in honour of that anniversary a list of the last 30 years winners, their tunes, and the judges for each year, was posted in every room.  For 28 of those 30 years we have been the fortunate guests of the Royal Scottish Pipers Society…

History: Solo Piping in 1985 and the Day the Gold Medal was Paused for Communion

The following is taken from the Oban Times piping column written by Alfred Morrison in late August 1985. He begins in characteristically trenchant fashion with a comment on the Silver Chanter: On Wednesday evening this piping recital was held in Dunvegan Castle. This event in piping used to be a competition for pipers who had already won the Gold Medal at Oban or Inverness, but this year it was demoted…

More on the Australian Ladies’ Visit to Scotland

Reading Duncan Watson’s article on the Australian Ladies’ visit reminded me that I had a couple of very old cuttings about them from the Campbeltown Courier. There’s information that intimates their visit, followed by a fairly comprehensive report on it. I have copied the reporter’s scripts to the letter for authenticity, though some wording is a bit quaint. By Iain Duncan The first cutting from the Courier, dated October 9, 1926,…

EUSPBA’s New President Speaks to Piping Press

At 56 Bill Caudill is the recently-appointed President of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association. By geographical area, and perhaps numbers, it is the largest piping association in the world. This week he has been instructing at the Florida Pipe and Drum Academy in Jacksonville and our editor took the opportunity of interviewing him about his new role. Membership?: ‘We have in excess of 700 solo members and more…