Eight elite pipers ready to take a turn at 2025 Wheel of Fortune in Edinburgh

If their annual Pipe-Major’s Wheel of Fortune Competition is an indication, the Grade 2 City of Edinburgh must be one of the most fun pipe bands around, and this year’s lineup of players ready to set their hands alight, spontaneously respond to piping assignments, and demonstrate their stand-up comedy prowess are set for the event at the Danderhall Miners’ Club on Saturday, April 26th in Midlothian, Scotland:

• Sandy Cameron, Roy Bridge, Scotland
• John Dew, Edinburgh
• Cameron Drummond, Edinburgh
• Brian Lamond, Dunfermline, Scotland
• Cameron May, Lesmahagow, Scotland
• Gordon McCready, Renfrew, Scotland
• Ross Miller, Linlithgow, Scotland
• Sarah Muir, Glasgow

It’s a test of “creativity, musical expression, and fun,” with three events: an MSR, the “Wheel of Fortune Medley” and—here’s the punchline—a joke.

Once the traditional MSR is out of the way, the fun begins with the Medley. Each player must play five of these 12 categories:

• A tune composed by Allan MacDonald
• A composition by Donald McLeod
• A tune with a female’s name in the title
• A Gaelic or Irish slow air
• A tune composed by Gordon Duncan
• A composition by G.S. McLennan
• A hornpipe
• A tune the contestant composed
• The ground of a piobaireachd
• A polka
• Two jigs
• Two reels

Four of the five categories will be determined by a spin of the Golden Chanter Wheel when they arrive, and the fifth category will be chosen by someone in the audience who gets to spin the wheel when the piper comes on to play.

However, each contestant has a Joker that they can use only once, allowing another spin of the wheel for an alternative category. They can also add up to three tunes of their own choice. They then play the content in any order they like, provided it’s as one continuous medley.

Assuming they haven’t passed out after all that, each piper has to tell a joke. No kidding.

Unidentified folks in the audience judge the piping bits, and the whole crowd determines the best Joke.

“Once again, we’re looking forward to spending an afternoon with some great pipers in Danderhall,” said City of Edinburgh Secretary Paul White. “We’ll be welcoming back some familiar faces and inviting some new friends to face the Wheel for the first time.”

The band started the contest in 2006, and since then, it has become one of Scotland’s most popular solo piping/comedy events.

The Pipe-Major’s Wheel of Fortune is £15 at the door for those 16 and over and £7.50 for under 16. Doors open at 11:15 a.m., and the piping begins at noon.

Craig Sutherland won it last year, and other champions include Chris Armstrong, Cameron Drummond, Ben Duncan, Brian Lamond, Stuart Liddell, Douglas Murray and Gordon Walker. Liddell holds the record for wins with three.

City of Edinburgh’s roots go back to 1947 when Woolmet & Danderhall was formed, which took its name from Woolmet Colliery and the Midlothian village where the band still practices. Woolmet & Danderhall eventually changed its identity after the colliery shut down in 1966, along with other colliery-sponsored bands. The band was a frequent prize-winner in Grade 1 in the 1970s and ’80s.