Winter Storm Results

This competition was held in Kansas City on January 13. It attracted a very large entry in all categories. Andrew Carlisle, Northern Ireland and Pittsburgh, was the aggregate winner in the professional class. In addition to other prizes, Andrew (pictured) was awarded $1,500 for travel to Scotland to compete, or to travel back to Winter Storm 2024. Gold Medal Piobaireachd 1 Andrew Carlisle2 Nick Hudson3 Andrew Lewis4 Alastair Lee5 Derek Midgley6…

Editor’s Notebook: Juvenile Band Fund/ Libya Pipe Band/ DR’s Wedding/ Highland Dress/ Dingwall Honour

I was pleased to learn last week that the RSPBA are looking at upping the profile of their National Juvenile Pipe Band Fund. This fund was established in 2015 to help these bands pay for buses, tuition and other essentials that help youngsters get ‘on the grass’ for competition. The fund was inaugurated with a major contribution from Jimmy Stuart a piper in his time with Kilsyth, Camelon, Wallacestone and…

P/M Iain Robertson 1976-2023: A Tribute

It was with great sadness I heard of the passing of my friend Pipe Major Iain Mitchell Robertson. Iain died peacefully at his home in Palmerston North, New Zealand, on Saturday, 14th December, after a long battle with cancer. He was 46. Affectionally known as ‘Robbo’ by most, he was one of New Zealand’s top solo pipers, judges, teachers, and a long-time member and Pipe Major of the Grade 1 New…

Review: Recording the Folklore and Pipe Music of Nova Scotia

Twenty five years ago Professor Dan MacInnes gave the annual John MacFadyen Memorial Lecture. His subject was piping in Nova Scotia and the wider Canadian Maritimes. The winters were so severe for the first settlers, said the professor, that hardly a bagpipe survived. They literally cracked up – no doubt along with some of the early adventurers. By Robert Wallace They had never experience the biting bitterness of the ‘big…

Responses and Conclusions in My Search for the Origin of My Historic Pipes

A few readers got in touch after yesterday’s story on the pipes. Jim Robb: ‘Alan Bain maintained that his family’s ‘Avernish Pipes’ were made from hazel wood and had been bored with a red hot rod. They could still be played with a fairly modern chanter and were known in the family as ‘The Auld Sticks’. He said they had been made in Avernish, Kintail, and were about 200 years…