Archive
The 72nd Ulster Pipe Band Championships were held at West Strand Bay in an ideal setting just beside the beach, and Manorcunningham won Grade 2, the top contested event of the day. The only Grade 1 band to play was Ravara after Closkelt elected to withdraw.
Maxville, Ontario – August 2, 2025 – Ulster Scottish of Philadelphia won the aggregate prize in the Grade 2 band competition, the highest-level contested event at the 2025 Glengarry Highland Games, held in sunny and warm (but not hot) weather that attracted a large crowd. Ulster Scottish won the MSR […]
Ian K. MacDonald of Whitby, Ontario, had the most aggregate points across the five solo events to win the North American Solo Piping Championship at the 2025 Glengarry Highland Games, and Blair Beaton of Scotia, New York, won the equivalent overall trophy in the Professional Snare Drumming.
Gordon McCready of Renfrew, Scotland, continued his 2025 solo piping success by winning the overall trophy at the Dundonald Games in South Ayrshire in sunny and hot weather.
Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, won the Bar to the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada), and Joe Biggs from Ajax, Ontario, won the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) at the annual piobaireachd competitions held at the St. Michael & All Angels Anglican Church in the small farming community in the eastern part of Canada’s most populous province.
The 150th anniversary of the birth of the great piper, leader, gentleman and composer John “Jock” McLellan was marked at a packed official opening of the John McLellan DCM 150th Anniversary Photo Exhibition in Dunoon’s famed Burgh Hall on July 31st. The exhibition will run until August 30th, the last […]
The march-past has been a tradition at UK pipe band competitions for as long as they’ve existed, but for the first time, North American-style “massed bands” will be “trialled” at a Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association major championship, the European, in Perth, Scotland, on August 9th. It is not known […]
With an Sgùrr, the pinnacle of the Inner Hebrides Isle of Eigg, in the distance, Traigh Farm was once again the location for the annual Arisaig Highland Games, where 12 competed in the Senior (18 and older) solo piping events and six in the Juniors.
The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association has responded to pipes|drums’ request for comment and their perspective on Grade 3A City of Newcastle not being entered to compete at the 2025 World Championships. After receiving no response from RSPBA Chief Executive Colin Mulhern, pipes|drums was advised that Jackie Allan is the […]
Forty-five pipe bands and 259 solo pipers and drummers will descend on the tiny eastern Ontario farming town of Maxville to compete at the 2025 Glengarry Highland Games, Friday, August 1st, and Saturday, August 2nd, the world’s largest band and solo competition by number of events, 63 in all. The […]
Seventeen bands competed at the 2025 Pacific Northwest Scottish Highland Games at Enumclaw Expo Center on the western outskirts of Seattle. St. Thomas Alumni from Houston travelled the 2,000 miles to make a Grade 1 competition with Simon Fraser University. SFU won both events with first-place rankings from all eight judges. Greighlan Crossing continued their run of success in Grade 3 before heading far east for the North American Championships at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario.
The Grade 3A City of Newcastle is a well-established band that competes regularly on the UK circuit, but it isn’t being permitted to show its stuff at the 2025 World Pipe Band Championships because the band’s secretary didn’t tick a box on the entry form. According to Pipe-Major Andy Clark, […]
Geordie Hunter started Maverick by launching colourful wooden practice chanters that have proven popular with pipers of all levels, from beginners to elite solo players like Finlay Johnston. Maverick has now launched the Mk2 practice chanter, which the company said is its most innovative instrument yet. The chanter promises thoughtfully […]
Campbell Wilson from Palmerston North, Zealand, but currently living in Plzen, Czech Republic, swept all three Senior solo piping events at the annual Airth Highland Games.
Compared with the UK Championships two weeks previous, there was a much stronger entry by bands at the 2025 Scottish Championships. With three firsts from the four judges, Field Marshal Montgomery won Grade 1 to secure the title, the second of the RSPBA’s four major championships, against a field of nine other contestants. It was the first major championship win for Pipe-Major Matt Wilson, who took over from the legendary Richard Parkes in the off-season, and Leading-Drummer Willie Glenholmes, also in his first season.
Exclusively for subscribers, Zephan Knichel reviews the new book by Richard McLauchlin: “If this book shows us anything, it’s that sameness does not make history. Taking chances, getting messy, making mistakes, and occasionally angering the establishment makes history.”