Dispute summarized after tabloid attention

and his reasons for publishing the piece.

“I am taking the opportunity to place before whomever might be interested the actual truth of the matter,” MacLellan wrote in his summary. “It is not my choice or doing that this has been splashed all over piping, social, and national news media — I find all of it extremely distasteful but I also make absolutely no apology for doing so; I am not going to sit back and see my character being publicly assassinated any longer.”

“It has been stated in the Daily Mail that this matter was responsible for my leaving the College of Piping. At the time when I wrote my resignation letter to College Chairman Colin MacNeill, I was not even aware that any matter between the College and Donaldson was ongoing. I resigned my position giving notice on October 31st, 2017, — not ‘a few days later’ than November 16th as Donaldson stated, nor November 20th, as Wallace also incorrectly states. The reasons for my leaving had nothing to do with Barry Donaldson since the first I knew that there was a continuing action by him was when I was told of it by Colin MacNeill in Edinburgh in early December, a few days after I had finished my employment at the College at the end of November. The story which appears in the Scottish Daily Mail issue of 29/12/2017 stating that ‘Mr. Donaldson . . . complained . . . winning the resignation of Mr MacLellan as Director’ is incorrect. My resignation letter proves all of this beyond any doubt and may be seen here at CoP Resignation.”

When asked to comment on the matter on behalf of the College of Piping, Chairman Colin MacNeill declined to answer specific questions, saying only, “I confirm that Colin MacLellan’s resignation from the College had nothing to do with Barry Donaldson’s complaint.”

MacLellan’s summary alluded to reasons for Donaldson not being a suitable representative of the College of Piping, but did not go into details, saying instead, “I invited [Donaldson] to meet with me in good faith so that I could explain to him the reasons at the time for his unsuitability as a representative of the College of Piping at a piping school in Germany. He has frequently based as a cornerstone of his complaints that he has never been told of these, yet he has never ever asked me. Mr Donaldson, despite arranging the day, time, and venue for the meeting, did not turn up.  I have now informed him, in writing, of these reasons, although he now says quite incredibly that he does  ‘not seek to know anything as to your views on how the College considers my suitability to instruct.’ Mr Donaldson therefore is quite free to divulge these reasons to whomever he wants, or whomever might be remotely interested in them.”

Donaldson said in his response to pipes|drums: “For the record, my support for the College of Piping has sustained for many years and that includes the period from when I resigned as a Director. I regard the College of Piping as one of the most important piping institutes in the world and I have the highest regard for those individuals who currently work for the establishment. I was instrumental in establishing the partnership arrangement between the College of Piping and the German School and was asked by the College of Piping in 2016 to attend the school as an Instructor. Colin [MacLellan] was not on board at that time. It was the German College School Principal who asked me to teach as a guest Instructor, as was his prerogative.”

“My only interest at this point is to ensure that the facts around this matter are made clear,” MacLellan responded in a statement to a pipes|drums request to comment further. “People can now decide for themselves who is right or wrong based on the facts.

“I was and always will be happy to speak with Barry Donaldson or anyone else in order to explain and to resolve any issues they might have. I think the piping world wants to move on from this, and the matter should never should have been dragged into public in the first place. Although I speak here as an interested party, it is my intention to concentrate solely on matters which benefit the Solo Piping Judges Association who have shown faith in electing me Chairman. In the interests of piping this matter should now be laid to rest.”