Wall Street Journal Joins the Debate on the Number of Pipers in Bands

The prestigious Wall Street Journal is used to frenzied activity, head to head battles, bears and bulls and all that. But this is as nothing to the fervid pipe band world they enter today with the following article on piper numbers. The article features comments from our Editor and other luminaries such as P/M Bill Livingstone formerly of the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band. Bill’s band is pictured above, so big that…

Irish Piobaireachd Society Annual Competition Results

Con Houlihan reports: Please find attached the results from this year’s Irish Piobaireachd Society annual competition, which was held in the shadow of the Kilworth Hills, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. The event was kindly sponsored by RG Hardie & Co. The judges  were John Reville and Dr Jack Taylor.  Beginners 1st Tigerlily Keoghan 2nd Liam Casey 3rd Jane Carmody 4th Eamonn Casey Under 18 1st Tigerlily Keoghan Open Amateur Piobaireachd 1st…

Biggest Audience Figures Yet At Celtic Connections

The 25th Celtic Connections festival ended yesterday with the organisers claiming a total audience of 130,000 over the past 18 days. They have also announced that Celtic Connections 2019 will run from Thursday 17 January to Sunday 3 February.  The festival Included the highly successful concert given by Johnstone Pipe Band (pictured above) and many other events which featured the bagpipe. Celtic Connections staged more than 350 concerts with over 2300 artists from over 30 countries. .   Organisers Glasgow Life, the same city council…

Field Marshal Live on Facebook from 1pm/ Highlands & Islands Launch Syllabus

Those following Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band may like to tune in to their live practice for the Irish Oscars today at 1pm. Here’s the link. FMM are to receive a special award for their contribution to Irish music.  The  band will be presented with the award at the Gradam Ceoil concert and awards ceremony at Belfast Waterfront tomorrow live on television channel TG4. A local newspaper reported: ‘Widely regarded…

PP Ed's Blog: Skye Under Fire/ Geoff's Collection/ SPA/ Ulster Charity Concert

US broadcaster CNN has handed the island of Skye the unwelcome tag of one of the top 12 global tourists destinations to avoid this summer. The list also includes Barcelona, the Taj Mahal and Mount Everest. The report states that the infrastructure of Scotland’s largest island ‘creaked under the pressure last year as thousands of tourists in coaches and cars plied its narrow lanes resulting in widespread snarl-ups. Eventually the residents…