News

The Toronto Branch of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario (PPBSO) is planning to hold a new piping competition for “the top Grade 1 solo players in the province of Ontario.” The annual event is to be held in February . . .

The House of Edgar-Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band is planning for one of its busiest off-seasons ever, with several concerts, performances and warm-weather trips that will bring . . .

Joining the list of recently bands promoted to Grade 1, the Australian Pipe Band Association has moved the Band Club Sydney to the premier grade after its success . . .

After a hiatus in 2007, the Toronto Indoors Games will take place again in 2008, according to Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario Toronto Branch President . . .

The Grade 3 Black Raven Pipe Band of Dublin raised several collective glasses to Jimmy Russell, the band’s former Pipe-Major, on December 8th to celebrate his . . .

Without the German and world piping and drumming communities coming to its rescue, the New Year might not have happened at all for the Bagpipe Association of Germany, which has been hit with a sudden debt of as much as €30,000 that . . .

Seven of the world’s top drummers, including three World Solo Champions, will offer their talents to charity when they take part in the second annual Charity Piping & Drumming Nite at the Royal . . .

The Grade 2 Dartmouth & District Pipe Band of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, has secured Jeremy White as its new Leading-Drummer. White was most recently head of the . . .

Roddy MacLeod’s piobaireachd website, Roddy MacLeod Piobaireachd, has gone live after four months of planning and preparation. The site complements . . .

Possibly for the first time ever, two piping-related albums reached the UK’s official top 100 chart for sales, with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards ‘Spirit of the Glen’ and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers’ ‘Bagrock for the Masses’ hitting . . .

And a merry ho-ho from all of us at pipes|drums!

At a special meeting called on December 30th, the Board of Directors of the British Columbia Pipers Association (BCPA) unanimously approved the promotion of the Triumph Street Pipe Band to Grade 1. The upgrade came after several months of the association

Our annual awards to the best and most important of the year

Bob Allen, who served as President of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario from 1997 to 2005, was again elected to the position at the organization’s annual general meeting in Acton, Ontario. Allen won the post in an election against incumbent . . .

The Scottish Pipers Society of London competitions on November 3, 2007, were the last events in the long and storied career of Colin MacLellan, one of this era’s . . .