Bygone Days at Cowal and 1947 World Championship

It was a pity Cowal Senior Solo piping was cancelled this year due to the clash of dates with the Northern Meeting competitions – but it couldn’t be helped. Just to rekindle some memories I have attached a photo [above] which might interest piping historians. It shows four Pipe-Majors taking a break from judging duties at Cowal. They are (l – r) Ronnie MacCallum (Inveraray), my father John Maclean (North…

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Entries Open for 80th Annual Competition of the Scottish Piping Society of London

The SPSL have sent this…. The weekend of Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd November marks the 80th Annual Competition of the Scottish Piping Society of London. The SPSL Committee has been very active over the last six months planning this year’s Annual Competition, and is delighted to announce that entries are now open, via the online entry form on the Society’s website: http://www.scottishpipingsocietyoflondon.co.uk/ The Committee took the decision to streamline…

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Reflections on the 2019 World Pipe Band Championships – Part 2

The Grade 1 Medley competition as always produced a varied range of tune selections, ingenuity, innovative approaches, intricate piping and drumming, quality playing to a very high level, and varied musical impacts.  For me the best musical performances were those which included a blend of traditional and contemporary tunes (melodic ones), tunes which fitted well together and avoided too long and complicated transitions, avoided complex harmonies and counter melodies where…

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Glasgow Police Appoint New Pipe Major

Niall West, Band Manager, Glasgow Police Pipe Band, sends the following announcement: Glasgow Police Pipe Band are delighted to announce the appointment of Alisdair McLaren [above] as Pipe Major. Alisdair has vast experience having previously been Pipe Major of Western Australia Police Pipe Band, before moving to the UK. He played during a successful period with Strathclyde Police before enjoying huge success with Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band. Alisdair is…

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Editor’s Notebook: Band Majors/ Clasp/ Band Registrations/ Queensland/ Inverness Juniors/ Grampian League

The RSPBA have announced the following dates and venues for next year’s major championships. British Championships – 23rd May at Paisley United Kingdom Championships – 13th June at Lurgan European Championships – 27th June at Inverness Scottish Championships – 25th July at Dumbarton World Championships – 14th/15th August at Glasgow A thought occurred whilst listening to last week’s Clasp contest at Inverness, and one which was not included in my…

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