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…

Editor’s Notebook: British and Cowal/ Band Displays/ Tune Plea/ Alan Watters and Donald MacLeod

Contrary to the impression given by RSPBA Chairman Kevin Reilly in last week’s story on the cancellation of the British Championships, the Association did not approach Cowal Gathering about the possible transfer of parts of the competition. Mr Reilly was referring to an approach to an events company in the town who mentioned the use of ‘Cowal Stadium’. Cowal Gathering Chairman Malcolm Barclay has since contacted the RSPBA to clarify…

Results of Our Readers’ Poll on the Future BBC Radio Scotland Piping Programme

What to make of our BBC Poll? We asked readers to comment on the form they believed the new BBC Radio Scotland piping programme should take following the announcement of the discontinuation of ‘Pipeline’ and the Gaelic medium show ‘Crunluath’, writes the Editor. There is to be a new programme amalgamating both, though given the language issue it is not clear how this can be achieved. There was a very…