PP Ed's Blog: Messages of Support/ RSPBA Strathspeys/ Ross MacNaughton/ Writing 3/4s

Thank you to the thousands of readers we had yesterday for my piece on the insult suffered by Senior Adjudicator Barry Donaldson. Thanks too for all the comments. No true friend of Barry’s can be happy at this situation and I would invite those so inclined to send him a message of support. The silence in some quarters has been deafening – as expected. Here are a few of the…

Barry Donaldson Has Been Wronged, But There is a Way Out of this Distasteful Affair

Barry Donaldson is a friend of mine so those reading what follows should bear that in mind. Nevertheless I will try to be fair and impartial; you can be the judge of whether I succeed or not. Barry has been wronged by a fellow adjudicator. Of that there cannot be the slightest doubt. The emails from Colin MacLellan are quite specific and indeed his response to Tuesday’s article confirmed his…

John Retires With a Look Back at Northern Ireland's 2017 Band Scene

After ten years of covering pipe band events and competitions John Kelly (RSPBANI Honorary Vice-President) has decided to pack away the Nikon D3 camera, hang up the now familiar straw hat and retire from the pipe band scene.  In concluding this ‘Review of 2017’ John would like to thank his many pipe band and drum major friends for many special memories and wish them every success in 2018. January (pic…

Adjudicator Reveals Detailed Content and Source of Emails

The following statement was made today by Mr Barry Donaldson to his fellow adjudicator members of the Solo Piping Judges Association (SPJA). A copy has been passed to Piping Press and is reproduced here. Text in bold is Mr Donaldson’s emphasis. The statement reads:   Fellow Adjudicators, Many of you will now be aware of the apology published a few days ago by the College of Piping.  This relates to…

PP Ed's Blog: Cailean's Last Show/ Piob Soc Conf/ West Fife Band Plea/ New Music/ College Board

Cailean MacLean’s last broadcast as presenter of ‘Crunluath’ the Gaelic piping programme is on Thursday (Dec 14) at 4pm. Cailean is stepping down after 20 years at the mic. I don’t know who the Beeb has lined up to follow him but his are a difficult set of brogues to fill. Cailean was also the piping convenor at the Skye Gathering for many years, a post now held by Cameron…