Editor’s Notebook: Lorient Festival/ Masters of Piobaireachd/ Churchill Pipes/ Melbourne/ Florida

Thankfully this summer is shaping up to what we had back in the good old days of 2019. Lorient Festival, probably the biggest celtic music festival in the world, have sent their 2022 poster celebrating the ‘Year of Asturias’. The blurb reads: ‘THE PEAKS OF CELTITUDE! [sic] Immerse yourself in the valleys and mountains landscapes of Asturias. A southerly wind is blowing towards Brittany, spreading the warmth of the south…

WW2 Piping: Stalag 383 Pipe Band and John Wilson, Edinburgh

Reader Bob Ash has kindly supplied the above photograph. He writes: ‘Here’s a photo of WW2 pipers and drummers in the Stalag 383 PoW Camp. ‘In the middle of the seated front row (4th from left), is my first pipe major, when I played with the 57th RAMC (T.A.) Pipe Band in the 1960s, P/M Bob Hill (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and Scots Guards) and, also in seated front row…

News from the Piobaireachd Society: Conference, Summer School and Plea for Stewards

The Society has reluctantly had to cancel its 2022 Annual Conference, writes President Robert Wallace. Difficulties over dates at the venue, the National Piping Centre, and ongoing covid concern over attendance made the decision inevitable The Society’s General Committee has determined on a re-launch of the Annual Conference for 2023, the venue again being the Piping Centre and the dates March 24/25. The Society has also announced that it has…

Piping In WW2: Prisoners of War Keep their Music Alive

There was piping activity in the POW camps and this was supported by the pipers on the home front. Piping societies were raising money to send instruments to the prisoners and the monthly magazine Piping and Dancing encouraged readers to write to prisoners.  A member of the College of Piping Veteran’s Association, Sinclair Swanson, remembered his time as a prisoner: ‘My father was a piper in the first war and…

2022 Duncan Johnstone Contest Details/ Editor Features in YouTube Video

The Competing Pipers’ Association have issued the following: The Duncan Johnstone Memorial Piping Competition 2022 will be held on Saturday 12th March. This will be an in-person event. B Grade contests will be held at the National Piping Centre. C Grade contests will be held at the National Piping Centre Otago Street. Entry fees are £10 per event and are to be paid by PayPal at time of entry, via the…