Christmas Present Ideas from the Piobaireachd Society and Piping Press

Struggling to find the perfect gift for your piping loved one or friend? Why not send a Piobaireachd Society Gift Voucher? They’re available from £5 to £100 and are emailed to the lucky recipient so no worries about mailing in time for the big day. PS Gift Vouchers are offered at five prices: £5, £10, £25, £50 and £100. They make a great present for any piper and can be…

Sun Belt Boost for CLASP as Latest Winners Announced

Margaret Houlihan Dunn reports: Please find attached the results from the 12th November 2022 ‘Live online’ CLASP competition and also a picture of Charles-David Mitchell [above] who was the Grade 1 overall winner. CLASP will run three ‘live’ competitions, using a Zoom platform setting, throughout the year. This format has continued from lockdown and allows amateur adult pipers to compete ‘live’ from the comfort of their own home and from…

South Uist and the Day the Barefoot Boy Piper Charmed Sheriff Grant of Rothiemurchus

John Campbell, Kilberry, has kindly forwarded the above picture. John writes: ‘I enclose a photograph that I found in a box. I don’t know who the gentleman is or the location, and even less so the child who looks a piper in the making. Perhaps he developed into a piper of note.’ John subsequently forwarded the picture to piping history researcher Jeannie Campbell. She replied: ‘I felt that I had…

John MacFadyen on the Art of Judging – Part 4

Here we have the penultimate excerpt of John MacFadyen’s comments on judging from the recording made in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1973. In it he discourses on tune selection. He tells an amusing story of the Dunvegan Medal and Sheriff Grant and the confusion between MacFarlane’s Gathering and Too Long in this Condition. He says it is wrong for judges to give favourite tunes to their favourite pipers. He describes…

Editor’s Notebook: SPA Veterans/ Competition Marches/ Chanter for Sale/ Strathallan Success

To the Piping Centre tonight to judge Scottish Pipers’ Association Veteran’s competition. SPA President Logan Tannock: ‘The members veteran’s competition is at 7pm tonight, Friday December 2, in the NPC McPhater Street. ‘If any member aged over 60 wants to enter then they should contact Secretary Melissa Jeffray at  melissajeffrey96@yahoo.co.uk. Entries also taken on the night. ‘If you qualify and would like to take part the playing criteria is a Slow…