A Look Back at the 2023 Northern Winter School

A superb set of pictures issued yesterday perfectly captures the atmosphere and success of last week’s Northern Winter School. It is held at a youth hostel at Müden/Örtze on Germany’s northern plain. Set among vast fields, woods and streams there’s nowhere to go. You have to get along. We do. By the Editor Fifty-two students, mostly pipers, worked to a curriculum and system we established at the first College of…

RSPBA Band Registration Fees Held for 2024

The Association has announced that there will be no increase in band membership fees for 2024. Fees are due by the end of this month (November 30). Late payment will incur a 20% penalty however. This means that an existing adult UK band could end up paying £316 instead of £264, or a Juvenile band £288 instead of £240, if band secretaries fail to pay on time. 2024 band fees…

History: The Man who Built the Glenfinnan Monument and His Piper

Any piper who has played at Glenfinnan Highland Gathering will recognise this setting as one of the most magnificent in all Scotland, writes the Editor. It is close to the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in 1745 and called on the clans to support his campaign to restore a Jacobite king to the British throne. Central to the vista is the tall monument commissioned by local landowner…

Sun Belt Contest Results

This fairly new invitational competition for both amateur and professional pipers was held yesterday in Orlando, Florida. Linda McBride Memorial Amateur MSR1 Tom Cangelosi 2 Liam Horne 3 Charles David Mitchell 4 Steven MacDonald5 Wyatt Brown  David Bailiff Memorial Amateur Piobaireachd1 Tom Cangelosi, King’s Taxes2 Flora Stone3 Mic Trenor4 Steven MacDonald5 Gillian Blaney Overall winner Tom Cangelosi  Professional Medley for the Sayre/Stein Cup 1 Callum Beaumont 2 Bruce Gandy3 Ian K. MacDonald4 William McCallum5 Angus MacColl Professional…

RSPBA Graeme Johnston Memorial Results

This solo juvenile competition its organised by the RSPBA’s Glasgow & West of Scotland Branch. It was held at the Association’s Washington Street HQ. Sponsors were McCallum Bagpipes and Wallace Bagpipes. The adjudicator was Ian Plunkett former P/M of Strathclyde Police Pipe Band. Trophies were presented by Rachel from the RSPBA Office. Juvenile 11 Ran Birch-George, George Heriot’s2 Lachlan Rennie, MacKenzie Caledonian3 Arran Brown, Kintyre Schools4 Charles Mack, Preston Lodge…