Piping and Drumming Scholarships at Top Fee Paying School Now Available

Glenalmond School in Perthshire is in the position, for the first time in my 27+ years here, to offer scholarships to pipers and pipe band snare drummers, writes Brian Elrick. I’m keen for this to reach as wide an audience as possible as it can offer life-changing educational opportunities for successful applicants. I run the Pipes & Drums programme at the school and Sandy Bayne is my snare drumming instructor. Sandy…

Northern Ireland News: County Fermanagh/ Mid Ulster/ Moira/ George Ussher MBE

It was unfortunate that after weeks of beautiful weather it should break just when the 2025 pipe band season got underway at the County Fermanagh Championships in Enniskillen. Not all bands or drum majors experienced the inclement weather, but that was really by good fortune.  The adjudication panel were Willie Garrett and Richard Parkes MBE (Piping), Gordon Parkes (Drumming), Mark Wilson (Ensemble), David Brownlee and Alicia Dickson Hamilton. Ravara, on…

Further Details on the 2025 Silver Chanter

Craig Sutherland, now living in western Canada, is unable to travel to the 2025 Silver Chanter competition/ recital. Craig qualified by winning the Gold Medal at Inverness last year. His place will be taken by Angus MacPhee, runner-up in the Dunvegan Medal 2024. Other invitees are Nick Hudson, Texas, (Inverness Clasp), Alasdair Henderson, Dunoon, (Snr. Piob. Oban), Derek Midgley, New Jersey, (Dunvegan Clasp), Sandy Cameron, Roy Bridge, (Dunvegan Medal), and Cameron Drummond, Edinburgh,…

Piobaireachd Study on Skye

The Piobaireachd Society Summer School ended last weekend. It was the fourth time we had travelled to Skye for the week-long class. We had 25 students. They came from the Phillipines, Thailand, USA, Canada, Liverpool, the isles of Bute and Mull, the Borders, Bellshill, Norwich, Glasgow, London, Aberdeen, Caithness, Austria, Germany and Brittany. They all appreciated the accommodation and food at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic College on the Sleat…

Know Your Judges: Bob Worrall

Twenty five years ago Pipe Band Magazine began a series of interviews with pipe band judges. The first, in January 2000, was with Canadian Bob Worrall. The introduction to the series began like this…‘Love them or loathe them, judges are a vital part of our pipe band world…..we’ll be asking the men and women with the clipboards to reveal something about what they really know and feel about our music…..what…