The Day Willie Fergusson Met the Australian Ladies

Further to our reports of a week or so ago on the Australian Ladies, Clive Douglas has sent us the following tale. The Ladies are pictured above outside Burns’ Cottage during their 1926 visit. Clive writes: The well known Glasgow piper and teacher Eddie McLellan told the story that Willie Fergusson was a sign writer by trade. One day he was working on a shop front sign on Buchanan Street…

Editor’s Notebook: Highland Games Threat/ Trophy Search/ Oban Festival/ Dollar Contest/ Sandy Jones

This from a prominent Highland games organiser: ‘On the CPA judge/pupil pronouncements that have lately been made, has anyone raised the problems this causes for competition organisers? ‘How are games committees, expected to be able to attract decent player numbers, or to maintain their ‘local’ feel, when they may not be able to use local piping adjudicators because they then wouldn’t get local competitors? ‘How can they afford to import…

Jimmy McIntosh Scholarship/ Balmoral Summer Camps

The inaugural cycle of the Jimmy McIntosh Piobaireachd Scholarship was completed with a culminating piobaireachd workshop held the last weekend of February, at Carnegie Mellon University, writes Joyce McIntosh. Thirty-two registered piobaireachd enthusiasts travelled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from eight different states to receive high-level tuition with Mike Cusack and Andrew Carlisle.  Each of the two scholarship winners played a tune he/she had learned over the eight-month course of the scholarship. …

Advice on How Best to Travel Safely With Your Pipes

Well the good news is Barry got his pipes a couple of days after he arrived home, writes the Editor. The bad is that one projecting mount was chipped and there were other nicks here and there. I wondered if the imitation ivory had been deliberately cut to test for the real stuff. The leaflet that tells you they have been into your suitcase has a disclaimer regarding any damage…

Review: Uist & Barra Professional 2023

The first thing to say is what a total success this comeback meeting, the first for three years, was. The standard of play, particularly in the light music, was as good as has been heard at this stage of the competitive year. Yes, there was some ring rustiness – but only some. For the most part the ten pipers entertained the large crowd grandly, with even those who didn’t make…