Pipers Gary West, Ali Levack, Conal McDonagh and Ewen Henderson will participate in the second Virtual Fèis Rois Weekend at the end of this month with free concerts and workshops. Virtual Fèis Rois Weekend replaces its usual spring residential music events in Ullapool cancelled for the second year running. Organisers say last year’s online events attracted 50,000 views from more than 2,600 participants from 50 countries. The online Fèis this…

The pipers listed below have been been granted entry into the Gold Medal and Silver Medal competitions to be held at the Argyllshire Gathering, Oban, and Northern Meeting, Inverness, on August 25 and September 2. The names were agreed unanimously at the annual Joint Eligibility Committee Meeting attended by representatives of the Northern Meeting, Argyllshire Gathering, the Piobaireachd Society, Competing Pipers Association and the Solo Judges Association. The meeting was…

Alex McCormick joined the drum corps of Glasgow Police Pipe Band in 1936 under Leading Drummer Jack Seton, son of his former drumming tutor, John Seton (previously also Leading Drummer of Glasgow Police Pipe Band).  Alex developed a strong friendship with Jimmy Catherwood and Paddy Donovan and shared their interest of drumming in the context of pipe band musicianship and pipe band ensemble.  He was joint Principal along with John Seton…

Thanks to Yahya Hussein in the US for sending the above picture, relevant to yesterday’s review of Evan Macrae’s new book. Yahya writes: ‘Here is a photo of the pipe band of the 1st Camerons at Catterick [Yorkshire] having just returned from their foreign service tour in the Sudan in October 1936. ‘When I showed Jimmy McIntosh this photo some years ago, he happily identified a good number of the…

Evan Macrae was the Pipe Major in the Cameron Highlanders for 13 years and served in various theatres of war and conflicts including places in the Far East – but this is not a war book. It is an easy, pleasant read. Evan was born in 1922 and commences with his earliest memories as a young lad, one of a family of four. Despite knowing him, I was surprised to learn…