Archive

Following the two-day Argyllshire Gathering at Oban, Scotland, the world’s top solo pipers are girding for competition at the Northern Meeting a few hours northeast at Inverness, with the other Highland Society of London Gold Medal, the Clasp, the Silver Star MSR and other historically important events featured on September […]

The Competing Pipers Association held its annual general meeting on August 28th in Glasgow and attending members reaffirmed Derek Midgley of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, as president, continuing his two-year leadership of the UK-based organization for another term. Dollar, Scotland’s Callum Beaumont concluded his two-year vice-president stint, and Peter McCalister […]

Glasgow – August 28, 2022 – The first Bronze Medal piobaireachd competition was held at the National Piping Centre with 21 contestants taking part. Steven Gray of Lockerbie, Scotland, was the winner. Competitors, submitting four tunes of their own choice and playing selected by the judges. The event was started […]

Drumnadrochit, Scotland – August 27, 2022 – Every senior solo piping event at the Glenurquhart Highland Games on the banks of Loch Ness was won by a competitor from Ontario. Only nine entered the competition, one of the last events before the Northern Meeting on September 1-2 just down the […]

Edinburgh – August 26, 2022 – Before an audience of more than 100, Iain Speirs of Edinburgh was awarded the 2022 Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Medal for piobaireachd at the dinner-recital-competition that returned to the Waldorf Astoria-Caledonian Hotel after a two-year hiatus. It was Speirs’ fourth time winning […]

Oban, Scotland – August 25, 2022 – The second day of the two-day Argyllshire Gathering went to its traditional spot outdoors at Mossfield Park, with many of the competitors gathering at the train station for the traditional march to the games through the west Highland town. Conditions were generally clear […]

Oban, Scotland – August 24, 2022 – The Argyllshire Gathering returned to its customary set of in-person competitions for the first time since 2019, with day one events held in various indoor venues in the scenic west Highland town. Jamie Forrester of Haddington, Scotland, won the Highland Society of London […]

For Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe-Major Richard Parkes, 13 seems to be a lucky number: his band won their thirteenth World Championship on August 13th and 13 wins for him put him in the pipe band record book as having led a Grade 1 band to the most World Championships in […]

The Internet – August 22, 2022 – If anyone thought a return to in-person events would suppress the appetite for online solo contests, the World Online Piping & Drumming Championships – Summer 2022 event suggests otherwise. More than 400 entries over 80 events from 16 countries came in. Ultimately, John […]

Now that the dust has settled from the World Pipe Band Championships, about 70 of the world’s top competitive solo pipers will converge once again on Oban, Scotland, for the two-day Argyllshire Gathering on Wednesday, August 24th and Thursday, August 25th. One of the most important solo piping contests there […]

Crieff, Scotland – August 21, 2022 – Twenty-six pipers representing six countries competed at the Crieff Highland Gathering, a much larger turnout due to those in Scotland for the Argyllshire Gathering. Prize lists were varied and, ultimately, Zephan Knichel of Surrey, British Columbia, had the best day overall with a […]

Nairn, Scotland – August 20, 2022 – Greig Canning of Kirkcaldy, Scotland, was the overall winner in the senior solo piping at the Nairn Highland Games. Weather was changeable, but mainly sunny. Only one judge assessed everything. Piobaireachd 1st Greig Canning 2nd Brian Lamond, Dunfermline, Scotland 3rd Zephan Knichel, Surrey, […]

Glenfinnan, Scotland – August 20, 2022 – Sandy Cameron of Roy Bridge, Scotland, was the overall winner at the Glenfinnan Highland Gathering in Scotland’s west Highlands, where only 13 competed in more familiar weather: cold and windy with a few sunny spells. He tied Finlay Cameron in points, with the […]

After being alerted to an apparent compiling error, the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association admitted that the incorrect result of the Grade 4B event was announced at the 2022 World Pipe Band Championships on August 13th, and the 1st Troon Boys Brigade of Troon, Scotland, was in fact the winner, […]

Chris Johnson, the well-known piper with more than four decades of constant participation on the Ontario scene, passed away on August 16th from complications from Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma. He had previously overcome Follicular Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a different cancer. Born in Woodstock, Ontario, July 19, 1960, Johnson rose quickly to be […]

Field Marshal Montgomery of Northern Ireland are the 2022 World Pipe Band Champions for the thirteenth time in their 32 years as a Grade 1 band, making Richard Parkes the most World’s-winning pipe-major in history. Under RSPBA rules, there’s no disputing that. Even with four different bands placing overall first […]