Bagpipe News

John Cairns retires from solo competition
Hangs up the ghillies after more than 30 years on the boards

John Cairns of London, Ontario, has decided to retire from solo competitions after more than 30 years of competing at the top level. His solo career reached its highest points in the last eight years and, in 1999, he wrote his name into solo piping history by winning both Highland Society of London Gold Medals at the Argyllshire Gathering and the Northern Meeting, a feat accomplished only 10 times before in the last 150 years.

Read the entire article on Piper and Drummer.com

NEW SHOW NOW UP - 24 MARCH, 2006

This week, continuing our Irish theme from last week, our special guest
is Robbie Hannan. Robbie is one of the finest exponents of the Uillean pipe,
and his views on music in general are very refreshing - we think you’ll
enjoy the chat.

We also have an exclusive track from the eagerly awaited album from piper
Stuart Cassells, and a track from the new Anna Massie album.

Stuart Cassells

John Doyle

Victoria Police

Robert Matheson

Robbie Hannan

William Barrie

PlanetPipe Radio Show
24 March Show Now Available

Fair Hill, MD 05/20/2006

Some of the more memorable highlights over the years have been the World Championship Sheepdog Trials in 1973 and 1976 with shepherds from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, South Africa, Canada and the USA. These were the only two World Championships ever held. The Musical Ride of the Royal Canadian Mount Police in 1976 and their memorable charge rebutted by the musket firing 78th Fraser’s Highlanders. The guest appearance of the Fifes and Drums of Colonial Williamsburg in the Bicentennial Year 1976 and again in the Millennium Year 2000.

The most spectacular event each year is the March Past of the Massed Pipes and Drums preceded by the outstanding Color Guard of the St. Andrew’s Society of Baltimore. The spectacle of some thirty pipe bands playing in unison presents a sight and sound that will live with you for the rest of the year!

We cordially invite you to spend a Day in Scotland with us on the third Saturday of May each year at the home of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Championships.

http://www.fairhillscottishgames.org/

March - Branch Newsletter now online! (636kb PDF File)
Check under the Newsletters section to download it in PDF format. If you’d
like to be included on the branch newsletter mailing list, please contact
Graeme Ogilvie.

http://www.ppbso-ottawa.org/newsletters/Mar2006.pdf

Lomond & Clyde PB concert 7:30pm, 25 Mar., Corbie Hall, Milngavie; tickets (£5) at donniemac71@hotmail.com

CoP Smallpipe Summer School; instructors Annie Grace and Stuart
Cassells; for more info email or call (0)141-334-3587

Wilson Shaw, former P/M of Uddingston Strathclyde
PB, has died.

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most widely known figures. Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 493.

Saint Patrick (386—March 17, 493 AD, see below) is the patron saint of Ireland (and the Isle of Mann) along with Saint Brigid and Saint Columba. He was born somewhere along the west coast of Britain in the little settlement or village of Bannavem of Taburnia (vico banavem taburniae in his Confessio), which has never been identified with certainty. Sites suggested include Dumbarton, Furness and Somerset, or the coastline of Wales or northern France; another possibility put forward for his birthplace is the settlement of Bannaventa in Northamptonshire, for raiders captured him with “many thousands of people” according to Patrick’s autobiographical Confessio, and sold them as slaves in Ireland. The tiny Welsh village of Banwen has often been suggested as his birth place. It was clearly occupied in Roman times, sitting on the Neath-Brecon Roman road and next to the two Roman forts in Coelbren.

Saint Patrick’s Day (March 17) is a Catholic feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick the patron saint of Ireland It is a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the overseas territory of Montserrat and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

2006 PPBSO Sanctioned Highland Games - Updated February 21 2006

The dates of the 2006 Ontario Highland Games have been published. The dates are as follows:

Georgetown - June 10th
Hamilton - June 24th
Embro - July 1st
Kincardine - July 1st
Chatham - July 8th
Cambridge - July 15th
Maxville - August 4/5th
Montreal - August 6th
Fergus - August 12/13th
Sarnia - August 19th
Almonte - August 26th

Saturday, March 11, 2006

James Street Armouries, Hamilton, Ontario

Results

The Agnew-Harrison Invitational Drumming Contest was held last night in the Officers Mess of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada within the James Street Armoury in Hamilton Ontario. There was a strong turn-out this year for both the audience and for the competitors.

Listed below are the results for each grade

Grade 2
Matt Hall (1)
Brent Burley (2)
Kevin Shortt (3)

Grade 1
Mike Tuzyk (1)
Rob McLeod (2)
Iain Cleaton (3)

Open
Graham Brown (1)
Craig Stewart (2)
Ian Maderios (3)

Congratulations to all winners.

http://ppbso.niagara-hamilton.org/

Glasgow - March 11, 2006 - Angus MacColl of Benderloch, Scotland, was the overall winner of the annual Uist & Barra invitational solo piping competition held at the National Piping Centre, taking home the Charles Hepburn Rose Bowl trophy. Chris Armstrong of Bathgate, Scotland, took the Piobaireachd contest, and Gavin Walker of Cowie, Scotland, had a strong day with two seconds and a third. For the first time since 1982, the Uist & Barra held a Jig event.

Read the entire artilce on Piper and Drummer.com

Hamilton, North Island, New Zealand - March 10-11, 2006 - The Manawatu Scottish Pipe Band of New Zealand won the New Zealand Pipe Band Championship for the sixth year in a row, also extending its unbeaten streak in Australasia to six years.

The New Zealand Police and Dalewool Auckland & Districts bands finished in a tie for second, even though the contest had points-based system with each judge using 100 points and 3 piping, 1 ensemble and 1 drumming judge in each event.

Due to lack of funds, Manawatu Scottish will not be attending the 2006 World Pipe Band Championships. The New Zealand Police plans to make the trip, making it likely that four Australasian Grade 1 bands will compete in Glasgow in August. The other bands are the Australia Highlanders, Western Australia Police and City of Blacktown.

Read the entire artilce on Piper and Drummer.com

BCPA Professional Piping Knockout Final
March 11, 2006
Scottish Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC

8 to 10 minutes of music of competitor’s choice
1. Andrew Bonar
2. Jori Chisholm
3. Danielle Millar

Adjudicators: Peter Aumonier, Jack Lee, Terry Lee
Competitors: 4

Check out our page of Highland Games for the 2006 season in Scotland.

Click Here

The first Highland piping and solo drumming competitions ever to take place in Austria were held on Sunday, February 18, in Bad Goisern as part of that city’s weekend piping workshop.

The historic event was covered by Austrian television, which broadcast a show on the following Monday.

Read the entire artilce on Piper and Drummer.com

We continue our popular “10 Questions With . . .” series with Margaret Houlihan, originally from Cork, Eire, and now living in Glasgow. At the age of 26, she has made a mark in the world’s most competitive solo piping circuit, and, in 2003, became the first female piper in history to win one of the A-Grade events at either the Argyllshire Gathering or Northern Meeting, when she won the Strathspey & Reel at Oban. Other prominent solo awards include the MacGregor Memorial at Oban in 1998; the Duncan Johnstone Memorial Piobaireachd, 2000; the Strachan Cup for the A-grade MSR at London in 2000; second in the Silver medal at Oban, 2003; and fourth in the Inverness Silver Medal, 2003.

Read the entire artilce on Piper and Drummer.com

Bands: Deadline to Register Instructors Was March 1

EUSPBA New Rules for 2006 Released

http://www.euspba.org/pdf/pub-rulesnregs.pdf

The Piobaireachd Society Annual Conference 2006, 17th - 19th March, Birnam House Hotel, Dunkeld, Perthshire. Open to all - a superb weekend of music, discussion and fresh air!; email Sec Dugald MacNeill at the College.

Papers will be delivered on ‘The MacDougall’s of Aberfeldy’, ‘The Iain Dall Chanter’, Archives of the Music Committee’ and ‘Set Tunes for 2006. Where appropriate there will be musical illustrations.

The Conference is open to all.

Royal Scottish Pipers Society amateur contests

Andrew Frater won the Archie Kenneth Quaich - the top amateur piobaireachd prize - with Sir James MacDonald of the Isles’ Lament. Andrew took 2nd place in the 2005 competition playing “Too long In This Condition” - Congratulations !!!

• 2 A Forbes (Unjust),
• 3 R Aitken (Mary MacLeod)
• 4 M Lowe (Capt. MacDougall)

The contest is restricted to those over 20 who have never received money for playing in competition or recital.