Two Bevans feature in list of eight MacGregor Memorial finalists

The eight finalists for the MacGregor Memorial Piobaireachd Competition for younger players have been chosen as part of the Argyllshire Gathering’s efforts to keep their events moving.

• Bobby Allen, Glasgow
• Alistair Bevan, Abbotsford, British Columbia
• Callum Bevan, Abbotsford British Columbia
• Hamish Drennan, Drumnadrochit, Scotland
• Luke Kennedy, Strathaven, Scotland
• Cameron May, Lesmahagow, Scotland
• Anna Smart, Auchtermuchty, Scotland
• Brodie Watson-Massey, Edinburgh

Each player was notified today that they are through from the initial group of 30 who submitted their chosen tunes some time ago.

The list includes two young pipers from the Bevan family. Their father, Alan Bevan, among myriad other awards, is a winner of both Highland Society of London Gold Medals and the pipe-major of the Grade 1 Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, and heir mother, Bonnie, has been a piper with the band since 1988.

Finalists will be assigned another tune from their submitted list of four piobaireachds to record and upload over the next week. Judges Murray Henderson and Dr. Angus MacDonald will then assess the recordings to determine the prizes.

Roddy MacLeod and Willie McCallum judged the first round.

“The MacGregor” has been running since 1984. Always for pipers younger than 21, the competition originally was spread over both the Argyllshire Gathering at Oban, Scotland, and the Northern Meeting at Inverness, Scotland. The Argyllshire Gathering took on sole administration of the event in the 1990s.

Campbell Wilson of New Zealand was the winner of the 2020 MacGregor, also held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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