“For some the Highland pipe is a serious instrument, to be played with skill and care and to consume a lifetime in its study ... but to me, it’s even more important than
that - it is life itself.” Bruce Campbell with acknowledgement to the late, great Bill Shankly
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 MascDonald 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 Society of South Australia. The event has grown into a weekend of competition, recitals and seminars and is well established as Australia’s premier solo event attracting pipers from not only most states but overseas. In recent years players have flown in from New Zealand, Canada and Britain to take part. The event takes place over the first weekend in May.
SCOTS DGs REUNITE (added 19 Jan 10)
The past members of the Pipes & Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards will hold a band reunion at Queen Victoria School, Dunblane on the weekend of 2/4 July 2010.
Former members of the band who wish to attend or get more information can contact pipingworld@hotmail.co.uk and information will be passed to the event organisers.
The Scots DG hit headlines around the world in May 1972 when their single ‘Amazing Grace’ hit the number 1 spot in charts in Britain and many other countries. It was followed up by other hits - ‘Little Drummer Boy’, ‘Heyken’s Serenade’ and ‘Now is the Hour’. ‘The Water is Wide’ was their last single but in recent years they have enjoyed renewed success with the ‘Spirit of the Glen’ album series which has also charted.
METRO CUP LISTS TOP NAMES (added 14 Jan 10)
The EUSPBA sanctioned METRO CUP is now established as one of the world’s premier solo events. This year’s event will take place on February 20 in Newark, New Jersey.
Top pipers who will compete include Bruce Gandy, Alasdair Gillies, Gordon Walker, Roddy MacLeod, Willie McCallum, Alastair Dunn, Glenn Brown, Stuart Liddell, Jori Chisholm, John Patrick, Alen Tully, Angus MacColl, and Chris Armstrong.
DATE SET FOR KINTYRE SOLOS (added 13 Jan 10)
Kintyre Piping Society secretary Willie McCallum has advised PIPING WORLD that the popular KINTYRE PROFESSIONAL PIPING CHAMPIONSHIP will be held on September 18 - a shift in date from previous years.
