Bobby Pinkman, 1954-2021

One of piping’s great characters, Robert Pinkman, known to all simply as Bobby, passed away at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, Wales, on September 1, 2021, two days after his sixty-seventh birthday.

Born on August 30, 1954, in Gorebridge near Edinburgh, the son of Archie Pinkman, pipe-major of the Grade 1 Bilston Glen Pipe Band and Kay Pinkman, Bobby Pinkman was an accomplished piper who played with several top-grade bands. In addition to Bilston Glen in the 1970s, he was a member of the Grade 1 153 (Highland) Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport in the late 1970s into the 1980s under Pipe-Major Peter Snaddon, served as pipe-major of the Grade 2 Lothian & Borders Fire Brigade Pipe Band, and then as a piper with the Grade 1 Torphichen & Bathgate in the 1990s. More recently, he played with Prestonpans.

He competed successfully in solo competitions and was a member of the Eagle Pipers Society. In the 1990s he was a piper with the Tartan Amoebas, a Celtic rock group that toured throughout the UK. He met his partner, Tresi, on tour with the band, and sadly she succumbed to cancer three weeks before his own passing from complications resulting from a fall at the 2019 World Pipe Band Championships when playing with Prestonpans.

He lived his final years Bobby in Newcastle Emlyn in western Wales with Tresi and their dogs Sam, Seren, Smot and Spooky.

He is survived by his three three children, Chris 39, Cerys 23, and Aron 22, and was the older brother to Kay and Marion.

Bobby Pinkman was a truly larger than life figure, with boundless energy and always in pursuit of mischievous fun, and those who encountered him felt like they had gained a friend for life.

A private cremation is being planned, and a small ceremony is being held on Llangranog Beach in Wales. His ashes will be returned to Scotland, where the family will have another ceremony for those wishing to pay their respects.

On behalf of the piping and drumming world, we extend our sympathies to Bobby Pinkman’s family and many friends at this sad time.