Category: Reviews

‘Pibroch by the Sea’ – A Unique Piping Experience on the Breton Coast of France

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Well I’m pretty sure the weekend we’ve just experienced is unique in the piping world. It begins when you are welcomed off the ferry at St Malo by a piper. The place is Brittany in west France. We are here for the annual ‘Pibroch au Bord de la Mer’, piobaireachd by the sea, event. The setting is Cancale, the village from where Louis XIV sourced his oysters, but which is…

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Pitlochry Games Results (Juniors added)

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Very warm with the occasional shower at the final games of the summer at Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire. The new Piobaireachd competition sponsored by the Piobaireachd Society attracted a wide field of pipers and was hailed a great success. The entry was larger than at any time in the last 20 years. A very large crowd also attended. Open Piob1 Dr Peter McCalister, The Fingerlock2 Angus MacPhee, I Gave a…

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The History of the Clan MacRae Society Pipe Band – Part 1

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Farquhar MacRae (1859-1916), winner of the Gold Medal in 1898, was a member of the (Blythswood) Highland Light Infantry (3rd Volunteer Battalion HLI) from the 1880s and for many years thereafter he was pipe major.  Towards the end of 1908 this battalion was renumbered, becoming the 7th Volunteer Battalion HLI.  That year, at Cowal Games his band placed fifth in the Argyll Shield Open Competition (World Championship), just one example…

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Review: The Northern Meeting 2023

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All the excitement of top class piping competition was contained neatly in Eden Court Theatre and its environs for the 2023 Northern Meeting. The NM committee and staff could not have been more welcoming, putting nervous pipers, inquisitive visitors, doddery judges at their ease the moment they stepped through the theatre’s glass doored maw. The bar prices were reasonable too so people were more inclined to hang around chatting in…

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Chatsworth Country Fair Results

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Clear skies all day at the Duke of Devonshire’s estate in Derbyshire on Sunday, September 3rd. Several pipers from Scotland made the drive south as did some from the US having a tune on their homeward bound journey. Fifteen entries, one no show. In the picture above the piper had to match his drones to the drone of a WW2 Lancaster bomber making its fly past. Four tunes of each…

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