2026 Glass Chanter Presented

The Glass Chanter, awarded annually to the piper who achieves most points at Scotland’s North Highland Games, has been won for the third year in a row by Angus MacPhee, Inverness, writes Steven McCabe The trophy and other prizes were presented to Angus last Friday night, 6th November 2026, during his very well received recital for Inverness Piping Society at Inverness Golf Club. The 2026 Glass Chanter, was kindly sponsored by…

Review: The Raasay Concert in Pitlochry Town Hall

The evening which was to feature a range of different bagpipes started with a bang. Angus MacColl played one of the copies of the Black Set of Kintail that Hamish Moore has made.  These pipes can be found in Inverness Museum and are dated to 1785.  This particular set, in the key of A and made in mopane wood, was presented to Rachel Gray as her prize for winning the…

Amateur to Professional Pathway: Readers Respond

We have had a number of letters regarding last week’s series of articles by Adam Aitchison on the need for an approved structure for those wishing to make the progression from amateur to professional ranks. (Read Adam’s articles starting here.) Unfortunately the responses have all been made anonymously. We assume the writers are afraid their competitive success may be compromised by their putting their heads above the parapet (a common…

Editor’s Notebook: Lessons from the Captain/ Iain Dall MacKay/ NZ Bands/ Glass Chanter

One of the pleasant things about doing overseas piping trips is getting to to know your teaching colleagues better. Brian Lamond has been with us this week at the Northern Winter School in Germany. On a quiet evening I was able to ask him about his early career and how he ended up with lessons from Captain John MacLellan. Brian had been started on the chanter by a local man,…

Editor’s Notebook: Fifth Major/ Piper Search/ Stirling Juniors/ Ozzie Reid/ T&C Singlings

I understand the RSPBA are very close to announcing the venue and date of the elusive fifth Major Championship for 2027. Rumours abound that this Championship, the UK, is heading for either Belfast or Ayr (hot money). The date is likely to be the weekend of 26th June. Already fixed up are the British on May 29 at Ingliston, the Scottish at Dumbarton on July 27th, the Euros at Perth…