The Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition, scheduled to be recorded at the National Piping Centre on November 27 has been cancelled due to travel difficulties associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. At the moment travel is discouraged between areas of Scotland which have a differing prevalence of the virus. Glasgow is currently in Tier 3 of infection. Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, with low infection rates, is in Tier 1. This meant…

The Piobaireachd Society have confirmed they are livestreaming their annual recital from the National Piping Centre on Sunday 29th November at 7.30pm The Society had to move the concert from St Cecilia’s Hall in Edinburgh following health and safety difficulties. Tickets cost just £5 each and are available from the society’s website here.  The pipers, Sandy Cameron, Angus MacColl, Cameron Macdougall and Iain Speirs, will each play two tunes. There will be no tuning…

The Eilidh MacLeod Memorial Trust has teamed up with North Uist-based Hebridean Candles to produce unique island floral scented products to support the work of the music-based charity, writes Iagan MacNeil. Released just in time to light up the winter months and to ignite memories of island summers, the new Island Girl scented candles and wax melts have been created to capture the spirit and character of 14-year-old piper Eilidh from the…

Secretary Mr RC Whitelaw concludes his hard-hitting commentary from 1948 on the Scotish Pipe Band Association’s rift with Cowal and the difficulties he had in staging the second SPBA Worlds in Glasgow. Permit me next to refer to a few awkward moments which existed in the plan to run the contest [the second SPBA World Pipe Band Championship] at Scotstoun in Glasgow. Is it believable that only on 26th August,…

Part three of our intriguing insight into the thoughts of the Scottish Pipe Band Association’s Secretary Mr RC Whitelaw back in 1948 as he battled with Cowal, the Glasgow local authority and contrarian forces within the movement….. What was I expected to do after issuing the circular? Would I resign from the office of Association Secretary? A few critics hoped I would do so. Can anyone imagine me running away…