Editor’s Notebook: British Championships/ PS Summer School/ Medal Info/ Oban & Inverness

Reader Eric McGaw, ‘I would like to leave a comment regarding this event [last weekend’s British Pipe Band Championship]. I think it is a really good idea to have other people’s perspectives on this event. ‘I travelled by plane on Saturday morning and walked to the venue, so access for me was excellent. I observed lots of car parking for coaches and cars. ‘I assumed that accessibility for other people…

Piobaireachd Society Summer School

The school is in full swing and yesterday we travelled by car from Sleat to Sconser for the ferry to Raasay. We piped down the slipway, we piped up the on-ramp, we piped on the way across, and we piped up the road to Raasay House, now a hotel. Why Raasay? Well this island should be a pilgrimage for every serious piper. It was, after all, the home of John…

Reaction to Report on British Pipe Band Championships/ Victorian Pipers Results

Alistair Aitken’s report yesterday prompted this response form a reader who has asked to remain anonymous: Who has got it wrong this time? What was the large seated main stand in between G1 and G2 arenas for? I was at Ingliston this year and all that you could hear from the stand was a mixture of G1 and G2 playing and a mixture of the next G1 and G2 bands…

Editor’s Notebook: Competition Light Music/ Funeral Reminders/ Correspondence/ Glenfiddich Date

One thing I found striking about the report this week on the 1934 Argyllshire Gathering was the tunes played in the light music: Shepherd’s Crook, Lochcarron, Piper’s Bonnet, Glengarry Gathering, and what must have been an early run of Mrs MacPherson of Inveran. Here we are, eight years off a century later, and these classic pieces are still what separates the great from the not so great players of ceòl…

RSPBA Hit Back Over Pipe Band College Claims

The RSPBA has responded to comments made by former Pipe Band College Piping Principal, Mr Jim Campbell. Mr Campbell’s comments followed the announcement earlier this month by Association Chairman Bob Niven of a ‘strategic reset’ of the College with new leaders and more focus on teaching. Read it here. In a long statement reported fully on Piping Press, Mr Campbell claimed that he and the other three College Principals, were…