For twenty years, the Dr. Dan Reid Memorial Challenge Recital (DRM) brought piping, and the best music of the great Highland bagpipe, to Northern California. The brainchild of Dr Dan Reid, P/M Ozzie Reid, and Mr. John Dickson, it started as vision to create a forum in which the instrument and recitalists were optimally presented.  Sadly, Dr. Reid never saw the fruition of his dream as he and his wife…

Ballycoan were the first band from Northern Ireland to travel to Scotland to pit their skills against the best. When the first SPBA World Championships were held in Edinburgh in September 1947, Ballycoan was the only band from outside Scotland that competed. They returned to the Worlds in 1948 and then in 1949 when they won the drumming in Grade 3. This indicates that the band were members of both…

The first major Highland Gathering of the summer is due to be held at Blair Atholl on Sunday May 30th. A decision whether it goes ahead ‘live’ will made after the Scottish Government briefing tomorrow, Tuesday 16 March. If it cannot go ahead in person then Piping Convenor Dr Jack Taylor has confirmed that it will do so online with the usual competitions: A/P/Non-CPA Piobaireachd, CPA B and C Piobaireachd,…

Neil Clark: My grandfather, Robert Bishop, was a piper in the Allandale Pipe Band [above], based in the village of Allandale, near Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire. He’s the first piper shown in the video [below]. He was taught to play pipes by the second piper in the video, Robert Irvine. They are both shown in Allandale uniform, around 1938: On the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, the band signed up en masse…

The Piobaireachd Society’s third ‘Talk Piobaireachd’ session of 2021 takes place this Wednesday, March 17, at 8pm GMT. These popular discussions are open to members of the Society and have proved very popular. The Society’s former President Dr Jack Taylor (above) is in the hot seat for what is sure to be another engrossing hour of information, ideas and thoughts on ceòl mòr and particular tunes in the repertoire. It is is suggested…