Category: Tuition

Canada’s Sean McKeown on Winning the Gold Medal

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Winning the Gold Medal is something that I’ve been striving for for some time. It’s every piper’s dream to win ‘the Medal’. To have the opportunity to play for it, first of all, has been a great honour. My first year in the Medal, placing behind my good friend Ian K MacDonald twice on his double win in 2016, was a really special moment for me and now, all these…

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P/M William Lyons BEM, 1940 – 2026

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William Lyons was taught to play the pipes, as a boy, at the Corbet Pipe Band, just outside Banbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland. He joined the Irish Guards, in 1957.  During his service, he guest-played with one of Ireland’s top bands of the time, Dromara, under Pipe Major Harold Hook. His first piping instructor in the army was P/M KG Roe of the Scots Guards, and he always described…

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Reflections on Day 1 at the 2026 Argyllshire Gathering

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What a day for North America! Three of the five major prizes went to either Canada or the US with the other going to New Zealand. Scotland’s honour was saved by Finlay Johnston in the ‘big’ MSR – but with Ontario’s Ian K MacDonal right on his brogue heels. Ian’s compatriot Sean McKeown took the coveted Highland Society of London Gold Medal. This was a very popular win. Over the…

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Glen Urquhart Games & Glenisla Games Results

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Piping Convenor Jane Drennan reports…. Here are the piping results from Glenurquhart held on the shores of Loch Ness last Saturday, August 22. We had a strong field of juniors (13), but only three seniors. The weather was perfect. Hopefully next year’s date of August 28th will attract more seniors as it will the Saturday between the Argyllshire Gathering and the Northern Meeting. DJ MacIntyre judged the seniors and Iain MacFadyen and…

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Editor’s Notebook: Bands and Solos/ Edinburgh Job/ Angus Award/ Glasgow Police LP

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So that’s the band season more or less over for another year. The piping world now focuses on the solos with major events at Lonach tomorrow, Oban from Wednesday and Fort William next Friday. I suppose from the solo-piper-in-a-band-perspective the calendar works out well, but I still think it is a pity the bands don’t have Cowal or at least some other important event filling out the summer. That won’t…

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