Eagle Pipers to run Captain John Medal Dinner-Recital-Competition

The members of the Edinburgh-based Eagle Pipers Society have voted to take on the running of the Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner & Recital Competition, this year’s event is scheduled for Friday, August 26, 2022, at the Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh.

The event was launched in 2011 by the Captain John A. MacLellan Trust as a way to pay homage to the great piper and his music.

Traditionally, four invited recitalists are assigned a MacLellan-composed piobaireachd to perform at the black-tie dinner, with a lone judge determining who gains the MacLellan Medal.

The event has been sponsored by the William Grant Foundation, frequent supporters of significant solo piping competitions in the UK.

We are committed to keeping the same format this year. – Eagle Pipers President Douglas Gardiner

“The event is one of Edinburgh’s very few premier solo piping events and honours of one of our founding members,” said Eagle Pipers Society President Douglas Gardiner. “Notwithstanding the generous support of the William Grant Foundation, the economics of the event are very finely balanced. We are committed to keeping the same format this year and will review any necessary changes going forward.”

Colin MacLellan, son of Captain John MacLellan, has until now managed the event, building it to be one of the pre-eminent events in the piping world. He indicated that the challenge of running the recital-competition at such a high level had become too difficult and approached the Eagle Pipers Society with the idea of the organization taking it on.

MacLellan commented: “I am delighted that the Eagle Pipers Society will be taking over the organization and running of the Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner and Recital. It has grown since inception into one of the most prestigious piping events, strongly supported by the continuing financial assistance of the William Grant Foundation. There will now be many more hands available to share the responsibility under the leadership of Eagle Pipers President Douglas Gardiner, and I will be very pleased and available to offer advice and assistance should it be asked or needed.”

With the Captain John MacLellan Medal on August 26th in Edinburgh, the new CPA Bronze Medal in Glasgow on August 28th, and the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting scheduled for August 24-25 and September 1-2, respectively, it will be one of the most eventful weeks ever for solo piping.

Due to the pandemic, the last time the Captain John Medal took place was in 2019 when Angus D. MacColl won.

The Eagle Pipers Society was started originally in the 1970s, but went dormant in 1985. The organization was resurrected in 2010 by several Edinburgh-based pipers, including Colin MacLellan. Currently, the Eagle Pipers list 63 members based in the UK and 48 living abroad.

Captain John MacLellan was named as one of the greatest 20 pipers in history by a panel of experts assembled by pipes|drums in 2014.

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