The Premiere of the New Tune for War Hero John Cruickshank VC

By the Editor A celebration lunch was held at the Royal Northern and University Club in Aberdeen yesterday to honour John Cruickshank VC and the tune written for him by Dave Mason of Cincinnati and South Africa. Dave flew in specially to play the tune, spending much of his £1,000 prize money in the process. ‘I wouldn’t have had it any other way,’ he said. John and Dave are pictured…

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2019 British Championship Grade 2 Preview

By MacStig His stocks might be high and his bag low, but our man in the oilskin and the WW2 Army-issue kilt will be at large in Paisley for the British Championship this Saturday….and look out for ol’ tin ears at Lurgan, Inverness, Dumbarton and Glasgow too.  Following instructions from the Editor (something about getting to Paisley and two fingers), I assumed correctly he was referring to my assigned grade…

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Piobaireachd Composing Competition Winners for 2019 Announced

Jori Chisholm of Seattle, USA, is the winner of this year’s original piobaireachd composing competition organised by the Shasta Piping Society, California, and the Burley Bagpipe Company. Jori is a previous winner of the competition (2017) and picks up a cheque for £500 ($650) for his as yet unnamed tune. In second place came Karen McCrindle Warren from Cumnock in Ayrshire. She wins £250. Karen, compiler of the South West…

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New Piping & Drumming Teaching Posts in North East and Edinburgh

Ms Alex Duncan, Chief Executive of the Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums Trust: An opportunity has arisen for a Chanter/ Bagpipe tutor and a Snare Drumming tutor to teach during the school day in some of the Forres and/ or Elgin primary and secondary schools and to develop a schools pipe band in each location.   Applicants may wish to work in one, or in both locations. The roles are…

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Editor’s Notebook

I hear that despite this year’s time lag with the Northern Meeting (it’s a week later than usual), entries for Braemar have topped out at 30 with months to go before the big day (September 7). There were concerns that the overseas contingent, usually so supportive of Braemar, would have headed home after Inverness. Not so it seems and the attraction of the royal gathering remains as strong as ever….

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