It is with sadness that I report that Norman Matheson MBE passed away at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary yesterday, 10th January. He was 89. Norman was born in Inverness. He spent his formative years in Avonside a few miles from Tomintoul, the Moray-shire mountain village where he had his early education. His father was, for a while, a garage manager in Inverness and his mother a district nurse in the village. Norman was…
Twelve hours after Tuesday’s blog suggesting the 2022 British Pipe Band Championships should be moved from Scotland to England, Sir Ian McGeechan proposed the same for the forthcoming Calcutta Cup rugby match. Newcastle would be the perfect spot for the battle with the auld enemy, a max crowd permitted and guaranteed, said Sir Ian. Twenty-four hours later our football pundits were suggesting the same for Scottish Premier League matches. The…
The College of Piping was founded early in the 1940s as part of a youth organisation named ‘Fianna na h’Alba’, writes Jeannie Campbell. The Fianna activities included the study of Scottish history, the Gaelic language and literature, Scottish crafts, Highland dancing and all outdoor pursuits. Another important feature of their activities were ceilidhs and piper member Seumas MacNeill (pictured above) would of course play at these. The result was that…
The third excerpt from Jeannie Campbell’s history of piping 1939-1945 ……. The Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society in Edinburgh held their AGM in November 1939 and it was decided that meetings of the Society would continue. Officials were appointed for a period of six months to fill the gaps caused by members away on service duty. Eighteen members of the Society were killed during the war. On 30th September 1939 the…
Former Muirhead & Sons piper Gordon Ferguson, now domiciled in Australia, concludes his reminiscences… The other memories that I have relate to a trip overseas to Russia in 1967 as World Pipe Band Champions. I was thinking of including some tales of the band trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, that same year but though it was a memorable trip there is not a great deal to comment on, especially since…
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