CLASP gets an app

The Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) in the UK is putting updates and communications in the palm of their members’ hands with a new mobile app through the popular Team handheld platform.

The free CLASP app enables members to enter events, check in on contests and get notifications about competitions draws and updates.

To get the app, search for and download the Team app. Once installed and registered, open the Team app and search on it for the CLASP group to become a member of the group.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our CLASP members an easy to use app, where they will always be connected to the latest CLASP news, events, and also with the option of a very quick way to enter a CLASP competition,” Roddy MacLeod, principal of the National Piping Centre, said in a statement. “This is a great way of applying new technology to make CLASP very accessible to its members and to improve efficiency in the administrative processes.”

CLASP was started in 2005 by the National Piping Centre to fill the void in the UK, which previously had no regular solo piping competitions for adults not qualified or good enough to compete in the country’s “senior” events. Unlike the rest of the world, the UK does not have an all-ages graded “amateur” system for solo pipers and drummers.

+ Scotland to start first-ever contest circuit for amateur adult pipers

The predominant UK system requires anyone 18 and older to compete for cash prizes in a single open group, sometimes delineated by the Competing Pipers Association’s sub-classifications, grading soloists by Premier, A, B and C, with the C-Grade the rough equivalent of Grade 1 Amateur in mature solo scenes like those in Ontario, British Columbia and the United States.

CLASP runs a number of competitions for adult amateur pipers. Points are accrued to determine an annual overall winner, and members can compete as little or often as they would like throughout the year.