This report is from the October 2008 edition of Pipe Band Magazine….. The World Championships 2008 have been hailed the best ever. Certainly RSPBA Chief Executive Ian Embelton is convinced that last August’s spectacular event on Glasgow Green was the best since he became involved in 2001. And officials from the BBC who filmed the competition for a show broadcast on September 7 were delighted with the response from viewers….
The piper with his bagpipes has been understood for years to be a symbol of Scottish patriotism, fierce, a brave fighter, and a cultural icon. Seeing the piper on the front lines of the First World War had the effect of energising the soldiers and lifting moral. When pipers jumped over the top of the trenches and played the pipes with no thought of their own mortality, they harkened back…
Two memorial services commemorate and celebrate the contribution to piping of Jimmy McIntosh MBE, who left us earlier this year. The first was held on November 13th in Anderson, South Carolina, where we lived latterly. Piping friends from five nearby states and local friends and acquaintances gathered for a service and a ceilidh. Music continued late into the evening at the McIntosh residence. By Joyce McIntosh The second memorial service…
There is little point registering the disappointment shared at the absence of the activity we are all fans of. So much water under the bridge, players sadly lost to the pandemic, lost to the bagpipe, and pages of time turned. I’ve played more board games, had overseas travel cancelled and looked at empty supermarket shelves more than I’d want to in a lifetime. The buzz of a ‘major’ venue, the…
We had several hours to kill before our flight home from the Northern Winter School and accepted an invitation of a short tour of the nearest great city, Hamburg, from our generous guides Frank and Kirsten. Hamburg vies with Rotterdam as the most important port on mainland Europe. A previous tax-free enclave made it a world centre for coffee roasting. Much of the old quarter is built on oak piles…
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