Piobaireachd Society Launches Shop for Digital Downloads/ House of Scotland Contest

The Piobaireachd Society has launched an online shop where customers can buy and download digital versions of their highly acclaimed music collections. Included are books 1 – 16 from the PS series, the Kilberry Book, the most popular book of Ceol Mor in history, and Side Lights on the Kilberry Book. Books are availably singly for only £8 each; books 1 – 8 and 9 – 16 can be had…

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Result of Silver Medal Qualifier Held at Metro Cup, New Jersey

The first qualifier for next year’s Silver Medal competitions at Oban and Inverness has been won by Alex Gandy from Nova Scotia. Alex now has automatic entry to both 2020 competitions. The contest was held as part of the annual Metro Cup competition held at Newark, New Jersey, on Friday 15th February with many pipers flying in from around North America and some from Scotland to compete. Alex is pictured…

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Responses to the ‘Oil Your Pipes’ Debate

The comments below followed yesterday’s article by Nicholas Taitz on whether pipers should dress their instruments with oil. Responses seem to depend on where you live. One American pipe maker even has specific humidity guidance on when and when not to oil. MacLellan Bagpipes in North Carolina state: ‘We recommend pharmaceutical grade almond oil mixed with a drop of Vitamin E oil.  ‘We oil a bagpipe this way: after playing…

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PP Ed’s Blog: Florida/ St Thomas/ Spirit of St Louis/ Charlie’s Welcome

The first day of the Florida P&D Academy is over and has gone well. We have a lower intake than previously but this is to be expected given the change from south of the state to north east. A lot less traffic and a lot cooler up here than in the Boca Raton, though it was 81ºF just before we arrived. Travelling in North America via the northern states in winter…

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RSPBA Headquarters Redevelopment Update

By Robert Wallace The refurbishment of the RSPBA’s headquarters in Glasgow is well underway as the picture above shows. I understand that Association staff expect to be able to move back in from their temporary offices across the road in Washington Street before the end of the year, possibly as early as September. The building has been stripped back to bare stonework in readiness for a completely new custom designed interior….

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