Ulster News: All Irelands/ Sunbelt Contest/ NI Bands Upgraded/ Derryclavin Centenary

Following the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, the Joint Association Council of the RSPBA NI and IPBA announced that it had decided to postpone the All Ireland Solo Championships and J.A.C. Solo Championships which were due to be held on Saturday September 17th. This decision was understandable given the need to recognise this significant time and also to observe the period of National Mourning leading up to the State…

London Championship 2022 Results

A healthy number of pipers made the trip to the capital for the Scottish Piping Society of London’s 82nd annual competition held at the Caledonian Club, Belgravia. Bratach Gorm (7 tunes) 1 Bruce Gandy, Unjust Incarceration2 Iain Speirs, Colin Roy MacKenzie3 Alan Bevan, Salute to the Cairn at Borreraig4 Jamie Forrester, Phantom Piper5 Callum Beaumont, Daughter’s Lament Open Piobaireachd for the William Gillies Cup (6 tunes)1 Finlay Johnston, My Dearest…

Glenfiddich Championship 2022 Results

The Glenfiddich Champion for 2022 is William McCallum. He was placed third in ceòl mòr and first in light music to take the overall title. Piobaireachd placings:1 Callum Beaumont, Lament for the Earl of Antrim2 Fred Morrison, End of the Great Bridge3 William McCallum, Lachlan MacNeill Campbell of Kintarbert’s Fancy4 Angus D. MacColl, Nameless, Cherede Darievea5 Glenn Brown, Rory MacLeod’s Lament MSR placings:1 William McCallum, Crags of Stirling, Susan MacLeod,…

Editor’s Notebook: Northern Winter School/ Andrew Wright/ French Piper/ Sun Belt/ Howard Memorial

To Germany’s Northern Winter School today for another week of hard work imparting the finer, and not so finer, points of the art of the great Highland bagpipe. The school, at a youth hostel about an hour north of Hannover, is growing in strength and sells out almost immediately it is advertised. That is due to the quality of the teaching and the marketing and organisational ability of the Principal,…

History of the World Pipe Band Championships – Part 1

We are grateful to correspondent Alistair Aitken for this updated history of the World Pipe Band Championship……. The World Pipe Band Championships (WPBC) is the main event in the annual calendar of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA).  The Championships have a long history stretching back to 1906, but were not organised by the RSPBA (then SPBA) until 1947.  Initially the Championships were part of the Cowal Highland Gathering…