Tag: great highland bagpipe

A Brief History of the All-Ireland Pipe Band Championships

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Saturday sees this important pipe band competition being held at  Lurgan, Northern Ireland. Here our correspondent in the Province, John Kelly (left), RSPBANI Honorary Vice-President, takes a look back at the championship. John acknowledges that much of what is below has been compiled largely from an article by the late Fred Walker, former President of the Northern Ireland Branch of the RSPBA. The picture above is of the Field Marshal…

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Piobaireachd Can Touch the Heart of Every Piper

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There we were one evening last week well-fed with drams encouraging loquacity among our most reticent. As always the atmosphere at the New England Pipe and Drum Academy was warm and friendly. The conversation turned to ceol mor. The first question, how best to describe this music – what name should we use. In Gaelic ‘ceol mor’, great music, was more accurate, ‘piobaireachd’ simply translating as ‘piping’. This was fine…

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A Review of Grade 2 at the 2017 European Championships

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Grant Park, Forres, looked calm and pristine the night before proceedings, as the vendors were leaving the scene to return in the morning, writes our Special Correspondent. A small ceilidh was going on in the main marquee. The white lines were there to be seen and the circles of four arenas stood by to host the music makers of 110 bands for the 2017 European Championships. With very little darkness…

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PP Ed’s Blog: Pipe Band Majors/ Ross & Cromarty P&D/ Small Highland Games

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The debate over moving the European Pipe Band Championships to Forres will continue, particularly among bands who just can’t afford to journey up to the Moray Coast. Down the grades this is particularly inconvenient for Irish bands, few of whom, outwith Grade 1, attend. The reverse holds true for the UK Championships in Belfast with many Scottish bands electing to stay at home for that one. It all points to…

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Inveraray & District Are European Pipe Bands Champions

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Inveraray & District Pipe Band (pictured above courtesy Piping @ Forres) were crowned European Pipe Band Champions today after winning the Grade 1 contest at Forres on Scotland’s Moray Coast. The result means that the Argyllshire outfit, under the renowned P/M Stuart Liddell, now move clear at the head of the Champions of Champions table with two majors to go. In a nice touch the Inveraray band played a tune…

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