Category: Solo Piping

History: Solo Piping in Edinburgh in the 1960s

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Once more underlining the critical importance of reports of piping competitions, a sadly dying art, we have this from the Oban Times of November 1967. We presume it is by their then Piping Correspondent John MacFadyen. Look out for the names of George Lumsden who passed away last week, and Malcolm McRae who tonight delivers the latest in the Piobaireachd Society’s popular ‘Talk Piobaireachd’ lectures…. The third annual piping competitions…

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History: The London Championship of 1968, John MacFadyen, P/M Angus, Ian Cameron, Bob Brown, Ed Neigh, in the Prizes

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This is from the ‘London Correspondent’ of the Oban Times. The contest was held at Buckingham Gate on April 6 that year. Pictured above is John MacFadyen with the Bratach Gorm….. In the piobaireachd for the Bratach Gorm. the winner for the third successive year, was John MacFadyen, Glasgow, with an outstanding performance of the Red Speckled Bull. Second was Robert U. Brown, Balmoral, with another excellent rendition of Patrick…

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RSPBA Keep Minimum Size for Bands/ EUSPBA Winners/ Oban & Inverness

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For the 2024 outdoor season the RSPBA are to continue with the lower minimum numbers of players in bands first introduced after the pandemic. They say that some bands continue to struggle for player numbers post pandemic and without the minimum sizes some might be faced with having to withdraw from a competition if members fall ill.  Minimums in Grade 1 for major and minor contests will be eight pipers,…

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Vintage Set of Pipes For Sale

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Brian MacDonald, son of double Gold Medallist, composer and teacher William M. MacDonald, is offering an historic set of pipes which once belonged to his father. Brian writes: The bagpipes, might have been made by Thow and are pre-1900 as they were originally presented to Colour Sergeant (later Captain) W.H. MacDonald of Kingussie by the officers of the Badenoch Co. 1st Volunteer Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in April 1900….

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History: John MacFadyen Hails Angus MacKay’s Book as a Work of a Genius

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Fifty years ago John MacFadyen, award winning piper, teacher, administrator, wrote a review of a new edition of Angus MacKay’s historically crucial work, ‘A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd’. The following is from this review, published in the Oban Times in 1973 in John’s ‘Piping World’ column… Conditioned by the materialism of the society in which we live my first reaction to the news that a reprint Angus MacKay’s ‘Collection of…

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