PP Editor’s Blog 30/1/15

I was struck by the quality of Gordon Walker’s playing on the BBC’s Gaelic piping programme the other day: bright, full of verve, clean, crisp professional technique, a solid, harmonic pipe. It was recorded at the Northern Meeting a couple of years ago and here was a piper going for the first prize. No safety first for him. Yes, he may have lost a tad control in his Cockerel in the…

P/M Gordon Walker Recital, Northern Ireland

The Blackthorn Pipers’ Society Annual Recital Andy Wilson reports: The Blackthorn Pipers’ Society held its third annual piping recital in Dromore Rugby Club, Dromore, Co Down, Northern Ireland, earlier this year. The Blackthorn Pipers’ Society is in its fourth year having been formed along the same lines as The Eagle Pipers’ Society. We hold gatherings so that pipers of all ages and abilities can enjoy the great Highland bagpipe. At the end of…

Gordon Walker Recital

The Blackthorn Pipers’ Society Annual Recital Night 2014, Dromore, Northern Ireland Andy Wilson reports: As a society, this year we welcome one of the world’s most celebrated pipers to our annual recital night. Our guest recitalist this year is none other than Pipe Major Gordon Walker. This will be our third annual recital and one that we are very much looking forward to. Gordon is no stranger to these shores…

Row over Highland Dress Comments – Judge Responds

By The Editor There has been a great deal of response to the article by former Northern Meeting Dress and Deportment judge Bill Blacklaw first carried in these pages a few weeks ago. It was followed by his erudite exposition on how to wear Highland Dress – widely read by hundreds of pipers and bandsmen and women around the world according to our figures. We also carried out a poll…