MacDougall of Aberfeldy, the Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria and Dunolly House

I noticed the brief feature on Piping Press concerning the sale of Dunolly House, Aberfeldy, and its association with the MacDougall pipemakers. Some facts and dates concerning Duncan MacDougall’s places of residence and his being a ‘Royal piper’. These are all from my ‘Bagpipe Makers’ books. By 1873 Duncan MacDougall was piper to Breadalbane at Taymouth Castle but he continued his pipe making business in Aberfeldy. By Jeannie Campbell Duncan’s…

My Father, P/M Robert Reid – Part 2

We continue with our articles based on the letters sent by Robert Reid Jnr. to Jimmy McIntosh from 30 years ago. This excerpt, dated 28th July 1993, confirms Reid senior’s reputation for brusque assertiveness, a characteristic clearly passed on to his son….. Dear Mr McIntosh, Re the cassettes, I would much prefer to have control over the recording of the existing tapes myself. My father and I spent a great…

Ceres Games/ Drumtochty Games Results

The picturesque Fife village of Ceres hosted its annual Highland Games last Saturday, June 24. Conditions were warm and dry and brought a large crowd to the games field as can be seen in the photograph above. Piobaireachd, three tunes own choice; 12 played.1 Darach Urquhart, Lament for the Dead2 Brian Lamond, Earl of Seaforth’s Salute3 Anna Smart, Flame of Wrath for Squinting Patrick 4 Angus MacPhee, MacLeod of Raasay’s…

My Father, P/M Robert Reid – Part 1

Thirty years ago, in 1993, Jimmy McIntosh had extensive correspondence with Robert Reid Junior domiciled in Shettleston, Glasgow. The subject was the life and career of Bobby jnr’s father, P/M Robert Reid (above), multiple award winner and a forthright advocate of his own talents. These letters, passed to our Editor by Jimmy before he died, make for excellent reading and will appear here over the next few weeks edited, but…

More Light Music Recordings of Bob Nicol Courtesy Patrick Molard, Brittany

Following the article of a couple of weeks back, we asked Breton piper Patrick Molard how he came to have such excellent recordings of Bob Nicol, Balmoral, playing light music. Patrick responded promptly and, we are delighted to say, also supplied us with several other recordings from his archive. Thank you Patrick! He wrote: It is such a long time ago (51 years!) that it is difficult for me to…