The organisers of the annual ‘Winter Storm’ piping and drumming weekend have sent this from Kansas City, USA: ‘MHAF Winter Storm continues to grow in 2017. Since 2001, The Midwest Highland Arts Fund has been striving to continuously build, improve, and grow one of the premier piping and drumming events in the world – Winter Storm. ‘This year marks as the inaugural year for amateur grades 1, 2, and 3…
The interesting aspect of the Argyllshire Gathering’s statement on the recent judges debacle is the very fact that they were prepared to say anything at all. Reading between the lines they clearly have misgivings about this shameful ruling, a ruling based on no evidence but which implicitly (perhaps explicitly) deems that there has been corruption in the past and that the judges themselves have admitted it. Oban have said they will…
A larger than life character, John MacAskill was born in 1944 and died in 2003. When he won the Gold Medal at Inverness, Seumas MacNeill wrote: ‘When the winner was announced men of discernment looked for ways to escape, men of experience prepared to batten down the hatches and men of neither are still wondering what happened.’ John’s family was from Berneray in the Western Isles and, though his father and…
South Africa-based professional piper and lawyer Nicholas Taitz responds to yesterday’s letter regarding the controversial decision by the Solo Piping Judges Association to ban their members from sitting on benches where pupils may be competing, this rule covering the Argyllshire Gathering, the Northern Meeting and the London Championship. Today we also carry another letter on this issue, this time from Iain Marshall, Oban. The actual issues surrounding this rule must…
Two new letters this morning, the first from Brian Mulhearn begins: ‘Hello Rob, Having been following the recent judging developments, I think you are looking at the situation from only one side…. The next is from Bill Robertson in New Zealand and begins: ‘Hello Rab, About two days ago I was on TV for the BBC world news when an item came up about the female Lone Piper for the Edinburgh Military…
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