Archive
On the one hand, for once, there was a packed room at the Best Western hotel in Brantford, Ontario, for the November 2nd 2013 . . .
Roddy MacLeod won his sixth Bratach Gorm for piobaireachd at the annual Scottish Piping Society of London solo competitions, and thus became the second to qualify for the 2014 Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championships next October. The other qualifier, the winner of this year’s Glenfiddich, Iain Speirs, won the Gillies Cup – the Open Piobaireachd competition. The Bratach Gorm is reserved for pipers graded “remier” by the Competing Pipers Association, while the Open Piobaireachd . . .
Sixty-two percent of the 226 respondents to the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s survey of bands, judges, stewards, administrators and others said that the 2013 World Pipe Band . . .
Castlecaulfield, Northern Ireland’s favourite pipe band is renaming itself “AughinMOber” during November, as the Grade 2 Aughintober has joined the worldwide Movember drive to . . .
The fortieth annual Glenfiddich Invitational Solo Piping Championship was won by Iain Speirs of Edinburgh, his second consecutive win of the award. The event pits 10 of the most successful solo piping competitors together in a qualifying process from the major events in the United Kingdom. In the overall standings, Stuart Liddell was second and Willie McCallum third.
The organizers of the Glenfiddich Invitational Solo Piping Championship confirmed earlier that the contest would be streamed live on the Internet, and now have firmed up details of the broadcast . . .
The Western United States Pipe Band Association helped to rejuvenate a flagging Grade 2 category by moving up two bands, Prince Charles and Bushmill Irish Pipers, both from the San Francisco . . .
Steven McWhirter gained his third consecutive World Solo Pipe Band Drumming Championship at another large event at Glasgow Caledonian Univistry. It was the fourth time overall that the leading-drummer of the Grade 1 Inveraray & District Pipe Band achieved the award.
Ben McClamrock of Baltimore was the winner of the 2013 Livingstone Invitational Solo Piping Competition, held at the Officers’ Mess at James Street Armoury, the headquarters of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada. McClamrock competed against Ed Bush, Cardinal, Ontario; Ann Gray, Calgary; Derek Midgley, Mill Town, New Jersey; and Glenn Walpole, Kincardine, Ontario. Jamie Troy of Victoria, British Columbia, had to withdraw and did not attend. Competitors, each of whom received an appearance fee . . .
James MacHattie reviews the new ‘Generation 3 Bagpipe Cover’ from Highland Gear, a product with new material that promises to wick moisture away from the pipe bag by using new fabric.
The annual Livingstone Invitational Solo Invitational Piping Competition will tweak things again for the 2013 rendition of the event by . . .
Angus J. MacLellan, one of the great figures in modern Highland piping, died on October 12, 2013, at the age of 77, after many years of declining health. In piping, “Angus J.” was . . .
Andrew Mackay of Kitchener, Ontario, was the overall winner of the 2013 Nicol-Brown Amateur Invitational Solo Piping Competition, the 31st annual rendition of the contest, held at the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The competition featured . . .
Eleven amateur solo pipers from Canada and the United States have accepted their invitations to compete at the 18th annual George Sherriff Memorial Invitational Competition on Saturday, November 16th, in Hamilton, Ontario. The players are nominated by their home associations as the top represenatives in the amateur Grade 1 category. The event is often a swansong contest for pipers moving into the Professional grade, and past winners have included Glenn Brown and Faye Henderson, both of whom have gone on to with Highland Society of London Gold Medals for piobaireachd. This year’s George Sherriff Memorial lineup: . . .
Harry McLachlan of Aberfeldy, Scotland, took both the Piobaireachd and MSR events in the annual Falkirk Tryst, a contest reserved for junior pipers. As the winner, McLachlan continued the tradition of marching three times around the tombs of the “Three Immortal Heroes,” which includes that of Sir William Wallace’s best friend and right hand man at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. The 10 contestants then marched from Falkirk Parish Church up Falkirk’s High Street, ending with the traditional “playing of jigs” at the steeple . . .
The Style Guy extends his heartfelt apologies to his loyal readers after being away for so long. Fresh from a world tour witnessing the crimes of fashion across five piping and drumming continents, The Style Guy has allowed the mailbag to swell to the size of the late Arthur Gillies’s […]