Piping Press

Alan Cardwell has kindly forwarded the above picture of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Pipe Band in 1977 featuring his father, the late Denver. The band is pictured with its first Chairman, Chief Constable Sir John Hermon. Alan tells me the band’s first practice of that year took place on February 9th. If anyone has any more on the founding of the band, now known as the Police Service of Northern…

Very sorry to hear of the passing of Dr Bruce Thomson, writes the Editor. Bruce was a noted composer, his most famous tune being the 2/4 march Tommy MacDonald of Barguilean. I remember sitting next to Bruce at the Shotts Worlds Week concert several years ago when P/M Robert Mathieson asked him to stand take a bow before the band launched into the tune. Hundreds in the audience turned to…

For many decades the elegant prose of writer Seton Gordon graced the pages of the London Times discoursing as he would on piping, folklore and the natural world of the Highlands of Scotland. Here we reproduce the first part of an article he wrote in the 1960s. It shows that the MacCrimmons were not the only great piping family of legend…. THE world has heard of the MacCrimmons of Skye…

By The Editor The Office of the Scottish Charities Register (OSCR) have confirmed that, despite stories to the contrary in the national press last weekend, they are NOT conducting any formal inquiry into the affairs of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. In a statement on their website the RSPBA say: ‘Following the articles in the national press last weekend, the Board of Directors would like to state that the…

By Robert Wallace I had the pleasure of attending the Scottish Schools’ Combined Cadet Force Piobaireachd Championship last Friday evening (Jan 17) to judge the senior section. The host was Merchiston Castle School, one of the most prestigious in the country and one which prides itself on the quality of its bagpipe tuition. Nine young men were forward and it really was heartening to hear their efforts. They were a…