History: Revisiting the Northern Meeting 1972

According to our copy of that year’s programme, sixty-one pipers entered for the senior events – not too dissimilar to today’s restricted event at Inverness. In 1972 anyone could play but the burgeoning numbers were soon to prove impossible for promoters to handle. This Northern Meeting was held in the Dr Black Hall and the Caledonian Hotel Ballroom – the move to Eden Court a few years off. The dates…

Marathon Man Jack Completes Major Recording Project

Canadian piper Jack Lee (pictured above with Silver Medallist son Colin) has completed his recording of all the tunes in the Piobaireachd Society collection. The tunes are available for download from his company’s website. Jack, P/Sgt. of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, is a double Gold Medallist and winner of all the top solo awards as well as six World Championship titles with SFU. To let readers understand the magnitude…

A Look Back at the 2000 Gold Medal

Buy D Naill Standard Poly Practice Chanter (inc. any tax & mailing), from                         Still in ‘looking back’ mode, it is hard to believe that it is 15 years since Mike Rogers became only the second American in history – after Texan Mike Cusack – to win the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal. Mike R’s big day was…

Argyllshire Gathering Contestants for 2015 Announced

The Argyllshire Gathering has confirmed the following names for this year’s prestigious piobaireachd competitions to be held at Oban on August 26th, 2015. There will be 28 competing for the Silver Medal with two reserves, and 29 for the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal, no reserves. Last year’s winner of the Oban Silver Medal, Decker Forrest, is pictured above with the Duke of Argyll, the Chieftain of the Gathering. Read…

Scotland’s Jim Murray Wins ANZAC Tune Competition

P/M James Murray of Western Australia Police Pipe Band has won a prestigious composing competition for a tune to commemorate 100 years since the bravery and sacrifice of the Gallipoli landings during WW1. The tune, complete with harmony, is being made available here for the public with the composer’s permission: A press release issued by the promoters of the competition, Pipe Bands Australia and the New Zealand Pipe Band Association,…