Denny, Skye searching for new L-Ds

The Grade 1 Denny & Dunipace Gleneagles and the Grade 2 Glasgow Skye Association have each revealed that they each will appoint a new leading-drummer following the 2015 competition season.

The Central Scotland-based Denny & Dunipace Gleneagles are bidding lead-tip and former World Solo Drumming Champion Arthur Cook farewell after Cook informed Pipe-Major David Clunie following the European Championships at Forres, Scotland, that he would step down after the World Championships in August.

“We would like to thank Arthur for his hard work, commitment and dedication over the last five years at Denny and it would have been good for Arthur to have seen his time out at Denny, however we wish him well in any future endeavour,” Clunie said.

Clunie and Cook joined Denny & Dunipace together in 2010. Cook won the World Solo Drumming Championship in 1988, and, before Denny, was leading-drummer of the now defunct Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band.

Cook, who is currently in Ontario with George Watson’s, was not immediately available for comment.

Also beginning a search is Glasgow Skye, which learned that Leading-Drummer Jim Whitfield will step down after the contest year concludes. Whitfield has been in the position for seven years, enjoying excellent success in Grade 2, including the section achieving a second-place at last year’s World Championships.

Whitfield had stuck with the band through three separate pipe-majors: Craig Campbell, Kenny MacLeod and, currently, Ewan Henderson, who stepped in to the top spot after the 2014 contest campaign.

According to the band, Whitfield cited “work and family commitments” as mainly influencing his decision, and said that he “thanks all the members of his corps for their loyalty and commitment over the last seven years.”

Glasgow Skye Association was teetering on the brink of being upgraded to Grade 1 after the 2013 season, but has since fallen out of regularly making prize lists at championships. Throughout its 47-year history, Glasgow Skye has been Grade 1 several times.

Both Denny & Dunipace and Glasgow Skye have not made the prize-lists so far this year at any of the major major championships.

Those interested in the L-D spot at Glasgow Skye are asked to contact Treasurer Dougie Orr or Pipe-Major Ewan Henderson.

In the last five years, resignations by prominent band leaders have increasingly come mid-season, allowing bands to recruit in-person while contests are still going on.