2024 Captain John Medal goes to Ian K. MacDonald

Edinburgh – August 24, 2024 – The tenth Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner-Recital Medal was awarded to Ian K. MacDonald of Whitby, Ontario, held before a full audience at the Caledonian Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the heart of Scotland’s capital city. MacDonald played “For My Lass, Fair, Pretty and Highland.”

Also competing were

• Callum Beaumont, St. Andrew’s Scotland, “The Phantom Piper of Corrieyairack”
• Stuart Liddell, Inveraray, Scotland, “Salute to the Piobaireachd Society”
• Iain Speirs, Edinburgh, “Farewell to the Queen’s Ferry”

Bruce Hitchings was the sole judge, and there was only one prize.

The unique event invites pipers to play a prescribed piobaireachd composed by or closely associated with Capt. John MacLellan, one of the art’s contributors and competitors.

The Eagle Pipers’ Society organizes the competition, the Edinburgh-based organization MacLellan co-founded in the 1960s. The group took over the management of the event in 2023.

The Eagle Pipers’ Society was started around 1960 as an Edinburgh-based social group for pipers in the area. It took the name because the co-founders, including MacLellan, would meet at the Eagle Bar on the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh. Subsequently, the establishment moved, and the Ensign Ewart pub now occupies the original premises. The organization eventually ran a celebrated solo competition in the 1970s.

The Waldorf-Astoria Caledonian is one of Scotland’s finest and most highly-rated hotels. It is situated almost at the western foot of Edinburgh Castle at the start of Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens in the centre of Edinburgh.

Iain Speirs has won the event five times, including the 2023 contest.