Bagpipe News

Highland Wear

We have reduced the prices on two of our Jacket Sets. These have now been uploaded on our website, and the link below will take you straight there.

The Prince Charlie Jacket and Vest is now only £149.99. It comes with a 3 button evening waistcoat and is now available in a choice of 4 colours.

The Argyll Kilt Jacket with 5 button Waistcoat is now only £169.99. This is ideal for any occaision and is the jacket set that is pictured above.

Practice Chanters

We would also like to tell you about a great offer we have on David Naill practice Chanters. The Long Blackwood Practice Chanter with imitation Ivory sole and nickel ferrule was £120 is now ONLY £100.

This practice chanter has a great sound quality - it comes with a National Piping Centre Shop Manager recommendation!

Also we have the Deger Electronic Chanters now available for only £300

We also have two models of Peter Henderson bagpipes on sale during January for you. 

The PH5 hand engraved pipes are now reduced from £2,500 to only £2,300

The PH5 machine engraved pipes are also reduced and are now only £1,900 down from £2,100.

Both of these offers include a Canmore Bag and a plastic pipe chanter of your choice - from McCallum’s, Shepherd or St Kilda

Click Here for full details.

We also now have special offers on two sets of St. Kilda Pipes

St Kilda Set 3 - includes silk cords, cord cover and full imitation ivory are now ONLY £520

St. Kilda Set 4 - including St Kilda Pipe Chanter, Canmore bag, Velvet Cover, Silk Cords with engraved nickel. It is also fully reeded and ready to play. This set is now only £600!

Strathmore Set No.2 now available, fully combed and beaded with imitation Ivory ring caps and projection mounts and nickel ferrule and slides. It also comes with a Canmore bag, poly chanter, velvet cover and silk cords.

These pipes comes ready to play with a Murray Henderson Pipe Chanter reed and fantastic sounding Henderson Harmonic drone reeds. Each set is fully tried and tested by Murray Henderson.

And if that weren’t enough we will also add in a free pipe case worth £75.

So get all of this for only £899! - Order Now 

This offer is for a short while so order yours now!

We have the new Field Marshall Montgomery CD “Recharged” now in stock. It is £12 and is available now from our online shop. The accompanying DVD is now expected at the end of February.

Click here to order now!

We also have Roddy MacLeod Piobaireachd - Vol 1 CD. This is also £12 and available from our online shop. This is available from the solo pipers section of the shop website -

“A GLASGOW bagpipe manufacturer has received a £30,000 loan from a not-for-profit organisation to help retain traditional skilled work in the city.

RG Hardie & Co secured the loan from DSL, which provides financial support to small businesses and social enterprises aiming to develop the local economy.” …
Full Article Here on the Scotsman

Dear Friend of Scotland,

I would like to extend to you and members of your organisation a very warm invitation to join our year long Homecoming Scotland celebrations in Scotland in 2009.

Next year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of our national poet and international cultural icon Robert Burns, whose message of friendship and ‘Auld Lang Syne’ lives on. And Burns is the inspiration behind our year long celebration of some of Scotland’s great contributions to the world: Golf, Whisky, The Enlightenment and Innovation, Burns himself and our rich culture and heritage. Whether you have Scots ancestry or simply a passion for our great nation, 2009 will be an exceptional year to visit Scotland.

A programme of inspirational events will run throughout 2009, complementing the vast range of world-class attractions already offered in Scotland to our guests.

From the world’s biggest ever Clan Gathering in Edinburgh to Celtic Connections, in Glasgow and from the Open Championship, at Turnberry to the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival , there’s something special for everyone.

The Homecoming Scotland team, in partnership with VisitScotland, will contact you by email over the next 18 months with updates on our exciting Homecoming programme and information on new and great value travel deals for travelling to and staying in Scotland during 2009.

My colleagues in the new Scottish Government and I look forward to welcoming you and your members to Scotland during 2009. Here’s to Burns, his enduring legacy, his pride in our great nation and his inspiration for our Homecoming celebrations - for auld lang syne.

Yours for Scotland

Alex Salmond

First Minister

MORE ABOUT SCOTLAND

HOMECOMINGSCOTLAND.COM
For all the latest information on our exciting year of celebration.

VISITSCOTLAND.COM
For accommodation bookings and information on visitor attractions.

SCOTS ANCESTRY
GOLF IN SCOTLAND
SCOTTISH WHISKY
ROBERT BURNS

This Week on Planet Pipe: 22nd January

Stuart Cassells is in the presenters chair to take us through some fantastic new releases including music from Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson on Border and Uillean Pipes, two fantastic solo tracks from the Bratach Gorm with the prize winning Piobaireachd and MSR as well as new releases from Kirkwall Ciry Pipe Band and a reedy tangent with pipe music played on other instruments from Norman MacKay and Donald Black.

Coming Up : Our full coverage of music from the 2007 Bratach Gorm.

January 21-February Piobaireachd Seminar CANCELLED

FROM THE BC PIPERS WEBSITE:

We apologize for the oversight, but we have had to cancel the February Piobaireachd Seminar due to a scheduling conflict with the Annual Adjudicators Conference. The January Piobaireachd Seminar was well attended, and our guest instructor, James W. Troy, provided attendees with an extremely interesting and informative look at both the Little Spree and the Big Spree.

Based on the success of the first Piobaireachd Seminar, we plan to offer a series of such seminars at several Mini Gatherings next season, starting with the November Mini. Stay tuned for the details.

For those who attended the January Seminar, either in person or via teleconference, we are very interested in your thoughts regarding what you liked about it and what improvements you would like to see made for future seminars. Please direct your comments to Leslie Techy at secretary@bcpipers.org

Thank you, and we look forward to your attendance at next season’s Piobaireachd Seminars.

The 15th Annual Paeroa Highland Games & Tattoo will be held at the Paeroa Domain on Saturday February 9th 2008. The event which started out as a pipebands competition has grown over the years and today it’s a fully-fledged Highland Games complete with an Evening Tattoo.

Between 3000-5000 people attend each year, many coming from throughout the North Island. Twelve Pipe Bands from the Auckland, Taranaki and Central North Island Centres have registered for the Pipe Bands Contest. Highland Dancing and Solo Piping have drawn a large number of entries this year, the Paeroa Solo Piping being the final round of the Hamilton, Tauranga T-Series
competition.

Click here for details.

THE famous Burns Night music train will bring a taste of Scotland to the Penistone Line this week.

The annual bagpipe bash will see a haggis paraded down the platform at Huddersfield station before it is piped on board the 7.18 Sheffield service by the bagpipe-playing Northern Rail area director Malcolm Brown, next Friday evening (January 25).

Traditional Burns Night haggis, neeps and tatties will be available en-route and entertainment will be provided by the Good Egg Band. Pints of real ale and a range of lagers, wines and soft drinks are also available from the on-train bar.

Timetable: The haggis express departs Huddersfield at 7.18pm calling at all stations to Sheffield. It returns from Sheffield at 8.41 arriving in Huddersfield at 9.56pm. The return fare (Huddersfield to Sheffield) is £6.70. This is payable to the conductor on the train.

The inaugural “Dubai Irish Festival” is set to bring the top names in the Irish music industry to the emirate.

The event, which is the brainchild of Irish company Empire Entertainments in association with Tourism Ireland, Dubai Duty Free and MCI Dubai, is scheduled to take place at various places across the city between January 21 and 27.

Top Irish acts such as Frankie Gavin & his band,  Hibernian Rhapsody, who have played with everyone from Stephane Grappelli to the Rolling Stones, distinguished Irish composer and performer and founder of the World Music Centre in Ireland Professor Mícheál O’ Súilleabháin, and following his sell out shows in America with the Irish Tenors, world famous Irish tenor Anthony Kearns…    Full Details Here

Here is an interesting article on the tradition of Bagpipes, Funerals and Fire Departments

The tradition of bagpipes played at Fire Dept. funerals in the United States goes back over one hundred fifty years. When the Irish and Scottish immigrated to this country, they brought many of their traditions with them. One of these was the bagpipe, often played at Celtic weddings, funerals and ceilis (dances).  - Read the Full Article

The pipes and drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards share the stage with Band of the Coldstream Guards to perform a spectacular fare of regimental marches as part of their Kimmel Center debut in Verizon Hall on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 3pm. The Coldstream Guards is one of the oldest regiments in the world with origins based in Oliver Cromwell’s “New Model Army” in 1650, and carries on the rich musical traditions of British cavalry military marches. Forty nine band members will join The Royal Scots Dragoon’s 30+ members in a display of bagpipes, military marches, drum solos and Celtic dancing that has inspired soldiers over the past two centuries- from the battle of Waterloo to the present-day wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards’ performance will also include classic pipe tunes and modern arrangements from their November 2007 release Spirit of the Glen, as well as their chart-topping version of “Amazing Grace” and a tribute to America.This concert is the thirteenth concert in the World & Pop Series scheduled for the Kimmel Center Presents 2007/2008 season. The next concert in the series will be Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 3pm in Verizon Hall.Tickets for Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and Band of the Coldstream Guards are $33, $52, $62, $72, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.

My co-worker at Fontana just informed me that the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are on tour at this very moment. I’m very excited because I’m such a huge fan. I have their latest album, Spirit of the Glen, and it is awesome. Check them out and let me know what you think.http://www.myspace.com/spiritoftheglenIn case anyone’s interested18-Jan 8:00pm Wilmington, DE Grand Opera House19-Jan 2:00pm New Brunswick, NJ State Theatre Regional Arts Center19-Jan 8:00pm Newark, NJ Prudential Hall20-Jan 2:00pm 7:00pm Fairfax, VA George Mason University Concert Hall21-Jan 8:00pm Princeton, NJ McCarter Theatre22-Jan 8:00pm Rockville, MD Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts CenterSamFontana