CITES Latest – Repairs Freed from Regulation

Overseas pipers sending broken blackwood joints back to manufacturers in the UK for repair will not have to comply with the new legislation covering the import and export of African blackwood products. A spokesman for the UK’s regulator, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), said the European Union had issued a directive confirming the above. Other countries around the world seem to have adopted a similar stance though he said…

PP Ed’s Blog: Article on Pipers in Action in WW1/ Ban on Post 1947 Ivory Pipes Being Sold

A WW1 article in the Scotsman at the weekend made poignant reading – five hundred pipers killed and six hundred wounded. It read: ‘London-born Sir Philip Gibbs (1877-1962), one of five official reporters during the First World War, wrote about the effects of the pipes and the extraordinary bravery of pipers and Highlanders among the British forces at the Battle of Delville Wood near the village of Longueval which raged…

PP Ed’s Blog: CITES, Boghall, David Murray, Jimmy Anderson

Bagpipe manufacturers looking to explore the CITES regulations and how they affect blackwood trade with Australia should click here. Be prepared for a difficult trawl through. A meeting was held in Bristol last week between the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA), the body that polices CITES in the UK, and the Society of Instrument Manufacturers. I am awaiting info from the meeting, but the latest I have heard is…

Have Pipes, Will Travel: How to Deal with the New Blackwood Legislation

Since our articles on the new CITES regulations covering pipes made from African blackwood there has been a growing concern among pipers about how they may be affected when travelling abroad with their instruments, writes the Editor. In particular ‘what about the hundreds of pipers who travel here for the Worlds?’ has been a familiar cry. Before I get to that, I need to repeat that at the moment travel within the EU…