07 news archive

MINI BAND SEASON STARTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES (added 10 May ‘10)
THE traditional mini-band season in New South Wales, Australia got underway at the weekend with the ‘ANZAC DAY CHALLENGE’. The event, which was the brainchild of the late ‘Nifty’ Norm Vaughan was held in the Catholic Club in the western city satellite city of Liverpool.
The competition featured an appearance by newly crowned Australian champions, PipeBand Club. They were the only Grade 1 band competing on the day with Sydney’s other premier level band, City of Blacktown, deciding not to field an entry.
Entries in all grades were lower than in previous years.

Grade 1: 1 PipeBand Club B, 2 PipeBand Club A, 3 Southern Cross No 1 C
Grade 2: 1 Southern Cross No 1 b, 2 Southern Cross No 1 C, 3 Southern Cross No 1 A
Grade 3: 1 PipeBand Club Development A, 2 Hawkesbury, 3 PipeBand Club Development B
Grade 4: 1 Southern Cross No 2 A, 2 Northern Suburbs, 3 Southern Cross No 2 B
Juvenile: 1 Hawkesbury Juvenile

WILLIE McCALLUM TO GIVE DANISH DELIGHT (added 25 April ‘10)
EIGHT times Glenfiddich World Solo Piping Champion Willie McCallum has
been booked to appear at a double bill in the Danish capital city of
Copenhagen in July. The piper, who has been hailed as the greatest piper
of his generation, will give a recital in Copenhagen’s centrally located
Valby Kulturhus on Saturday 10 July and on Sunday 11 July will conduct a
master-class in various aspects of piping at the same venue.
Willie will be supported at the recital, which is believed to be the first
stand-alone event of its type conducted in Copenhagen, by the Gordon
Pipes & Drums under their new pipe major, Peter Flittner.
The ‘Gordons’ have been integral in the event which is a promotion
of THE PIPING SCHOOL and is a part of its continuing Danish piping
program.
Tickets have gone on sale at www.pipingschool.co.uk

PIPEBAND CLUB WINS AUSTRALIAN NATIONALS (added 5 April ‘10)
THE PipeBand Club won the Australian Pipe Championships at Caloundra in what has been described by the organisers as “perfect weather”. Led by pipe major Scott Nicholson they beat the pre-contest favourites Australia Highlanders of Melbourne into second place. In third place was Queensland Highlanders. The contest featured the biggest entry for some years.
FOR FULL RESULTS CLICK HERE.

MID ARGYLL COLLECTION (added 29 March ‘10)
‘THE Mid Argyll Collection’, a unique collection of Highland pipe tunes compiled by Rod Buchanan was published by the Mid Argyll Pipe Band on March 19 at a function in the Cairnbaan Hotel.
The music book adds to the band's catalogue of achievements in its 83 years of piping history.
The publication is a collection of both well known and more recent compositions by composers from, or about, Mid Argyll.
It includes classic tunes like ‘Duntroon’, ‘Doctor MacPhail's Reel’ and ‘Mrs John MacColl’ and new titles including Somerled's Legacy, One Too Many, Golowan and Cheryl's Wedding. The Mid Argyll Collection contains several compositions by current or former members of Mid Argyll Pipe Band including Rod Buchanan, Tony Higgins, Colin Brown, Arthur Gillies and Craig Campbell.
With the publication of ‘The Mid Argyll Collection’, the Band continues its commitment to developing the skills of a new generation of pipers in Mid Argyll and promoting their Piping Heritage.

BERT ROWAN (added 23 March ‘10)
The funeral of Bert Rowan, who died last week, will be held at Warriston Cemetery on Thursday, March 25 commencing at 11am. Bert, who was 82 when he passed away, will be remembered by many in Edinburgh piping circles as a pipe maker working in Joe Hagan’s Clan Bagpipes in Edinburgh’s Lawnmarket. Bert was also heavily involved in teaching piping within the Boy Scout movement.

DUNCAN JOHNSTONE MEMORIAL (added 16 March ‘10)
The annual Duncan Johnstone Memorial competition takes place on Saturday (March 20) at the National Piping Centre, Glasgow.

SCOTTISH PIPERS PRO (added 16 March ‘10)
The annual Scottish Pipers Association professional competition will take place at the College of Piping building, Glasgow on 17 April.

AUSTRALIAN SEASON CLIMAX (added 16 March ‘10)
The Australian pipe band season comes to a close over the next few weeks. First up is the Maclean Highland Gathering on March 19/20 in the northern New South Wales town with strong Scottish roots. The final major event is the Australian Pipe Band Championships which will be held on Queensland’s Gold Coast at Caloundra over the Easter weekend.

AUCKLAND WIN NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIPS (added 16 March ‘10)
The New Zealand Pipe Band Championships, which took place at Masterton on 12/13 March, was won by defending title holders, Auckland & Districts.
Manawatu Scottish took second place in a four band Grade 1 event.
City of Invercargill won the Grade 2 event with Manawatu Scottish Development band taking out Grade 3 and South Canterbury winning the Grade 4.

NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIPS (added 5 March ‘10)
The New Zealand Pipe Band Championships will take place at Masterton on 12/13 March. Auckland & Districts are the defending Grade 1 national title holder.

HAPPY CENTURY (added 5 March ‘10)
Two pipe bands on either side of ‘the pond’ are about to celebrate their centenary - both with major celebrations planned. Shotts & Dykehead (Scotland) and Holyoke (United States) both celebrate their centenaries in 2010.

KENNY MacDONALD (added 1 March ‘10)
Champion piper Kenny MacDonald passed away last week in a Glasgow hospital. A full obituary will appear in the March issue of PIPING WORLD which has been held back to fit the article. The magazine is expected to be distributed tomorrow.

MACLEAN BROUGHT FORWARD (added 1 March ‘10)
This year’s annual Maclean Highland Gathering in Northern New South Wales has been brought forward a week to accommodate the Australian Pipe Band Championships which is being held over the Easter weekend in Caloundra on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
This is the 106th running of Maclean which is one of the oldest events of its kind in the world and probably Australia’s best.

CANBERRA TOP HIGHLANDS BAND (added 24 Feb ‘10)
The Canberra Burns Club Pipe Band took out top honours at the Highlands Competition in Moss Vale, south of Sydney on Sunday 21 February. Canberra, which also fielded a second band in Grade 4, were the only Grade 2 band in the event and neither of NSW’s two Grade 1 bands (Blacktown and The Band Club) competed leaving the event light in the top grades.
Last year the event was rained off which, together with the looming Australian Pipe Band Championship in Caloundra, undoubtedly caused a downturn in entries.
LCCSX predictably took out Grade 3 with Sydney Thistle, once a powerhouse in Australian piping, taking top place in Grade 4.
FOR FULL RESULTS CLICK HERE

SHOTTS CENTURY (added 24 Feb ‘10)
The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band is the
latest band to turn 100. This year marks the centenary of
Scotland’s number number one rated pipe band, currently
led by Pipe Major Rab Mathieson and Leading Drummer
Jim Kilpatrick.

ITALIAN PIOBAIREACHD CHAMPIONSHIPS SHIFTS
DATES (added 19 Feb ‘10)
The inaugural Italian Piobaireachd Championships have
shifted dates and will now be held on Sunday 14 March.
A Piobaireachd workshop will be held on Saturday 13 March. Both events will take place in the luxurious Savoy Hotel in Bologna.

CITY OF ROME TO PLAY FOR SCOTLAND (added 19 Feb ‘10)
On Saturday the Scotland Rugby team will face Italy with the support of the City of Rome Pipe Band. Almost exclusively made up of Italians, the City of Rome are regarded as Italy’s leading pipe band. The rugby arena is no stranger for City of Rome and as part of the band’s commitments they will play ‘Flower of Scotland’, Scotland’s sporting anthem.
Currently both Scotland and Italy share the wooden spoon position with zero points.

POOLE AND BROWNING SHARE AUSTRALIAN PRIZES (added 4 Feb 10)
Maree Poole and Dennis Browning with two wins each shared the prizes in the Governor Macquarie Solo Piping contest in Sydney last weekend. Newcastle-based Browning took out the championship by the narrowest of margins.
FULL RESULTS click here

PIOBAIREACHD MANUSCRIPT SEARCH (added 3 Feb 10)
In the upcoming issue of the CLAN CAMPBELL MAGAZINE there is an article on the search for the ‘lost’ third manuscript of the Nether Lorn Canntaireachd by Peter McCalister of the Piobaireachd Society. This is also published on the society’s website.
Fuller details of the Nether Lorn Campbells can be found in ‘My King Has Landed in Moidart: Pipers of the Forty Five’.

MID ARGYLL PIPE COLLECTION (added 3 Feb 10)
The long-awaited Mid Argyll Collection of Pipe Music (to be published by the Lochgilphead-based Mid Argyll Pipe Band) is in its final stages of production. The book has now been completely typesett and is expected to be available in early Spring.

AMSTERDAM PIPING RECITAL (added 28 Jan 10)
The City of Amsterdam Pipe Band will hold a piping recital featuring solo pipers and pipe bands on Saturday 6 February. Details from Pipe Major Gert-Jan Achterbergh (email at gjvachterbergh@hotmail.com).

INTERNATIONAL PIPING WORKSHOPS (added 28 Jan 10)
THE PIPING SCHOOL (www.pipingschool.co.uk) will hold three workshops in three different countries in the next few weeks; Birmingham, England (30/31 January), Amsterdam, Holland (6/7 February) and Bologna. Italy (20/21 February). Further details can be had by email pipingschool@hotmail.co.uk

WORRAL FOR AUSTRALIAN GOLD MEDAL (added 27 Jan 10)
Top piping personality Bob Worral will judge the annual Gold Medal competition of the RU Brown Piping