The 157th Antigonish Highland Games were held on Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10 under warm and sunny conditions. A large crowd attended both days following a two-year hiatus. There was tremendous enthusiasm. All the participants were so happy. It was actually hard to believe that we had missed two years. Nine pipe bands competed for the Nova Scotia Pipe Band Championships on Saturday and for the Atlantic Canada Pipe Band…
So it is a fact that this year’s World G1 title will be decided over four competitions involving a total of 16 judges. No one will be able to gainsay the winner after that. However I do not feel it necessary to go to such lengths. Eight judges stout and true can do the job perfectly well as they have shown in the past. Sixteen should not become the norm….
The promoters of the John MacLellan, Dunoon, tribute website: We are once again approaching two important dates in Jock’s life, his passing on July 31, 1949, and his birth on August 8, 1875 To commemorate these dates a special playlist has been created on Spotify. Its title, ‘Bonnie Dunoon, My Home Town’, comes from two of Jock’s popular tunes. It features various artists, pipe bands and groups perfoming Jock’s tunes…
On Sunday 10th July, I was once again pleased to judge the solo piping competitions at the Harpenden Highland Gathering in Hertfordshire, southern England. It may seem unusual that a London commuter town hosts a Highland games, but the history is an interesting story in itself. During World War 2 there was a large concentration of aircraft factories in the Harpenden, St Albans, Luton and Stevenage areas, with a high…
We are grateful to reader Jack McLachlan for forwarding this BBC recording of the John MacFadyen Memorial Trust’s lecture given by James Campbell, Kilberry, in 1985. The venue was the Chapel Royal in Stirling Castle. This is the second part of a three-part lecture entitled ’50 Years of Judging’ and features the live playing of Iain MacFadyen (Old Men of the Shells) and Captain John MacLellan (Black Donald’s March). By…
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