Army School Features in National Press/ Jimmy McIntosh Memorial Weekend Workshop

One of the UK’s largest selling newspapers, the Daily Telegraph, has a full length feature on the Army School of Piping and Drumming today. It follows last week’s story which revealed the late Queen’s concern for the school’s future. In today’s article the School’s current Director, Major Gordon Rowan, reveals he piped around the Queen’s dining table on many occasions and talks of her pride in ‘her pipers’. His second…

My Father, P/M Robert Reid – Part 6

We continue with our correspondence from Robert Reid jnr. to Jimmy McIntosh. This abridged letter is dated 3rd November, 1993. There are mentions for John MacDougall Gillies, James Center, Sandy Cameron, Willie Connell and Allan Dodd…. My father was approximately 18½ years with John MacDougall Gillies. As it was, Gillies was his second choice of tutor. James Center was the first but he had too many pupils at that time…

A Look Back at the 2023 Northern Winter School

A superb set of pictures issued yesterday perfectly captures the atmosphere and success of last week’s Northern Winter School. It is held at a youth hostel at Müden/Örtze on Germany’s northern plain. Set among vast fields, woods and streams there’s nowhere to go. You have to get along. We do. By the Editor Fifty-two students, mostly pipers, worked to a curriculum and system we established at the first College of…

RSPBA Band Registration Fees Held for 2024

The Association has announced that there will be no increase in band membership fees for 2024. Fees are due by the end of this month (November 30). Late payment will incur a 20% penalty however. This means that an existing adult UK band could end up paying £316 instead of £264, or a Juvenile band £288 instead of £240, if band secretaries fail to pay on time. 2024 band fees…

History: The Man who Built the Glenfinnan Monument and His Piper

Any piper who has played at Glenfinnan Highland Gathering will recognise this setting as one of the most magnificent in all Scotland, writes the Editor. It is close to the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in 1745 and called on the clans to support his campaign to restore a Jacobite king to the British throne. Central to the vista is the tall monument commissioned by local landowner…