Editor’s Notebook: Atholl Gathering/ RT Shepherd/ SPA Professional/ William Kennedy Festival/ Florida School

Atholl Gathering Piping Convenor Jack TayIor: ‘Solo piping entries at the Gathering open today, Friday 14th March. The entry form is here on the Atholl Gathering website. ‘Held on Sunday, May 25th, it is the first outdoor competition of the season and is always busy, so pipers are encouraged to put entries in early.  ‘We will try and give everyone the chance to play, but if categories are too big we will have to restrict them on…

New Zealand Pipe Band Championships Marred by Torrential Downpours

The NZ National Pipe Band Championships were held on Friday and Saturday March 7/8th in Invercargill and they gave Scotland a run for its money weather-wise. Friday was cold, and Saturday saw the morning Street March competition abandoned after torrential rain. Massed Bands were also cancelled as the rain started to pour again late afternoon. The above photograph shows the G4b street march winners City of Dunedin as they made…

New Music Book from John Mulhearn

I have produced a new book of tunes, ‘Let Piping Flourish: A Musical History of Highland Piping in Glasgow’. It will be launched at Piping Live in August with pre-orders available from early May. Nowhere has shaped modern Highland piping as profoundly as Glasgow (motto ‘Let Glasgow Flourish’). Given the city’s unique history – its cycles of economic expansion and migrations – it is no surprise that its impact on piping…

Lance Corporal Patrick Milne: Another Heroic Piper on the Heights of Dargai

Two Victoria Crosses and seven Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded to the Gordon Highlanders for gallantry at the battle for the Heights of Dargai on the North West Frontier of British India on 20th October, 1897. All pipers will be aware of the Victoria Cross presented to Piper George Findlater following the action, who ‘though shot through both legs, continued, while sitting on the ground, to play his pipes undauntedly’. …

Scottish Schools Results/ Shotts’ Worlds Week Concert

A record-breaking number of young musicians from across Scotland took to the stage at this year’s Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships, making it the most widely attended event in the competition’s history. Held at Kilmarnock’s William McIlvanney Campus on Sunday 9th March, the Championships saw 94 bands from 144 schools compete across eight categories. By Lesley Wilkinson Among the standout moments of the day was the victory of Sgoil Bhàgh…