Northern Meeting Day 1 Results- Clasp Finalists, Gold Medal, Silver Medal, B MSR

The first competitions were held today (Sept. 3) in Eden Court Theatre, Inverness. Results will be updated as they are made available. Finalists for tomorrow’s Clasp competition for holders of the Gold Medal are: Alan Bevan, Callum Beaumont, Connor Sinclair, Andrew Hayes, Ian K MacDonald, Alasdair Henderson, Jack Lee, Chris Armstrong, Angus MacColl, Iain Speirs, Stuart Liddell, Colin MacLellan. Judges for heats: R Barnes, M Cusack, R MacShannon and R…

Editor’s Notebook: Northern Meeting/ Bronze Medal/ Band News/ Horst Kraus

To Inverness today for the 2026 Northern Meeting, the second of the two major solo piping gatherings to be held within the past week. This year is unique in that the Clasp competition has been split into two Thursday heats, six from each going forward to a final on Friday. Most of the top players would be in Inverness on the Thursday anyway for the Former Winners’ MSR but the…

Canada’s Sean McKeown on Winning the Gold Medal

Winning the Gold Medal is something that I’ve been striving for for some time. It’s every piper’s dream to win ‘the Medal’. To have the opportunity to play for it, first of all, has been a great honour. My first year in the Medal, placing behind my good friend Ian K MacDonald twice on his double win in 2016, was a really special moment for me and now, all these…

P/M William Lyons BEM, 1940 – 2026

William Lyons was taught to play the pipes, as a boy, at the Corbet Pipe Band, just outside Banbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland. He joined the Irish Guards, in 1957.  During his service, he guest-played with one of Ireland’s top bands of the time, Dromara, under Pipe Major Harold Hook. His first piping instructor in the army was P/M KG Roe of the Scots Guards, and he always described…

Argyllshire Gathering Day 2 Results Complete

Ceòl beag is the focus of the second day at Oban with competitions for ‘A’ and ‘B’ grade March and Strathspey & Reel and Jig. There is also the Intermediate MSR for young pipers who played in the MacGregor Memorial the day before, and local contests. Conditions were warm and sunny. ‘A’ March, Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society Bronze Star1 Ben Duncan2 Ross Conner 3 Steven Leask4 Ian K MacDonald5 Greig…