It was touching to read and study the photographs in Avi Bloomenstiel’s piece last week, featuring, as it did, two of the greats of piping we have lost in the past few months, Jimmy McIntosh and Iain Morrison. I spoke to Jimmy shortly before he died and later received an email from him regarding Iain’s passing: ‘My health and head are catching up with me. I saw you had a…

This bagpipe belongs to noted professional piper Andrew Hall, Northern Ireland, London and now Glasgow. They are a set of Naills model DN3ES, aged imitation ivory mounts and hallmarked Sterling silver slides.  The pipes are as new and were made in 2018. They are in excellent condition as the photographs show (see link). They have had very little playing but have a superb, steady tone. Bought as an additional set. Selling as…

This new digital book, ‘The Fyrish Collection’, is by double Gold Medallist Niall Matheson (pictured). It has more than 50 tunes covering every genre of pipe music from ceòl mòr to jigs and reels. Piobaireachd highlights include Niall’s well received tunes Salute to P/M Alasdair Gillies and Salute to the 51st Highland Division. The composer’s other works have already met with considerable acclaim. They are steeped in Highland character and lore,…

Yesterday’s cancellation of the Worlds and Scottish completed a rout of all major championships for two years in a row. Don’t be so sure that there will be a return to normality for pipe bands in 2022. The reasons for the call-offs were financial, organisational, musical and international. Smaller crowds, distance controlled crowds, would have meant less revenue at the Worlds and numbers would have been impossible to control at…

The RSPBA have announced today that both the Scottish Championships and the World Championships, scheduled for July 31 and August 13 and 14 respectively, have been cancelled. The announcement is not totally unexpected and comes despite major efforts to accommodate covid restrictions which may still be in place mid-summer. At the same time the Board of Directors of the Association have agreed that the Music Board should look at ways…