Showdown at Otago Street

Jim Gilchrist reports on the Society's annual piping competition, which this year moved to a new and ideal venue at the College of Piping in Glasgow.

THE fine new lecture theatre of the College of Piping in Glasgow provided an excellent venue for this year's LBPS competition on 5 April, with its usual diverting mixture of the good, the bad and occasionally downright eccentric. It was a notably successful day for Fin Moore, who took first in both of the open solo classes - for small pipes and for Lowland/Border pipes - as well as winning in the New Composition stakes.

It was interesting to note that the sole entry in the Novice Class, was a “mature” learner, while there was promise of great things to come in the playing of young Lewis Olssen, in his early teens already a seasoned Highland piper and now getting to grips with Lowland pipes, although on this occasion unplaced in the Intermediate and Duet classes he entered.

In the event, it was Tom Dingwall who won the Intermediate Class which opened the competition, with a crisp set of Highland pipe tunes on small pipes, while the Society's secretary, Judy Barker, once again won the Pipe and Song, on this occasion singing The Sally Gardens (with some nice pipe and voice harmonies). Martin Lowe managed to alarm the audience somewhat in the latter class by announcing he was going to sing the old (and lengthy) ballad Lord Randall before asking timekeeper George Greig, “There's no time limit on this, George?” Would we ever see lunch, we feared, if the hoary old tale was allowed to wind to its sanguinary end? Martin's rendition, however, turned out to be a suitably “edited” version.

Glenn Hawkins.

Fin Moore won the New Composition with a hypnotically spinning Highland-style pipe reel he called Ten Again - a reference to a miscalculation in the age of the Hebridean Ceolas music festival, while Jock Agnew, who took second, with Grim Douglas of the Threave and Pete Stewart, who was third with the lengthily titled Richard Skowgall's Salute, etc, etc (see Page 14 for Pete's article on the inspiration for the tune, P38 for other winning tunes), went for historical themes.

The Duet for Pipes and Other Instrument notably featured the first instance of a Dusty Springfield number cropping up in an LBPS competition - indeed, I suspect, in any piping competition, as Julian Goodacre, with harpist Elspeth Smellie, combined I Only Want to Be With You with Julian's own tune The Flaxen Lass of Always. They took second place (and, no, Julian was not sporting a bouffant hair-do), while first went to the energetic Border pipes-guitar pairing of Euan Whitmore and

The Seasoned Pipers class saw a play-off of familiar faces, with Martin Lowe winning, while in the newly introduced class for singing while accompanied by a piper, the sole entry, but an enjoyable one, was from Helen Ross on small pipes and singer Delia O'Hagan with Loving Hannah. A solitary entry, also, for the Novice Class, from Murdo MacLeod, was, nevertheless, an improvement on last year which saw no entries for this section.

After lunch, the playing standard in general escalated with the Open Solo Scottish Small Pipes class, which was won by Fin Moore's Highland pipe selection, starting with the distinctive Donald MacLeod tune Angus G MacLeod and ending with Gordon Duncan's popular The High Drive. The Duet for Pipes competition (see elsewhere in this issue for the saga of the Mains Castle Medals and the kilted Geordie Syme) was won by George Greig and Martin Lowe, and actually saw the appearance of some Border/Lowland repertoire in The Mill, The Mill, O and Go To Berwick Johnny, followed by the Irish jig The Foxhunter (their harmony parts will appear in the next Common Stock).

The event finished, as usual, by the Open Solo for Lowland/Border Pipes, which saw a healthy flourish of these pipes, which in the past have tended to be ignored in favour of the small pipes. The winner was, once again, Fin Moore, who played the fine retreat march The King's House and a snappy strathspey that led seamlessly into a couple of reels.

Judges were Lee Moore, Julian Goodacre, Finn Moore and Iain MacInnes. As ever, it was a convivial day, and the Society was fortunate in being among the first to use these fine new facilities at the College of Piping (and enjoyed a lunchtime visit to the College's museum). Nice, too, to see Lowland/Border pipes so much in evidence, though still largely playing Highland-style material. My Home Town definitely seemed the tune of choice for the day.

Competition results

Intermediate - The Julian Goodacre Trophy (5 entries, judge Lee Moore)

• Tom Dingwall - Queen Victoria's Welcome, She Put the Knee in the Old Man, John Keith Lang, Easy Club Reel, Angus John's Fancy
• Judy Barker - The Stool of Repentance, Ar Eireann Ni Neosainn Ce Hi
• Jeannie Campbell - My Home Town, Flett from Flotta, Moonshine

Pipe and Song - The Jimmy Wilson Memorial Cup (3 entries, judge Julian Goodacre)

• Judy Barker - The Sally Gardens
• Martin Lowe - Lord Randall
• Ian Miller - O'er the Hills and Far Away

New Composition - The London Trophy (4 entries, judge Lee Moore)

• Fin Moore - 10 Again
• Jock Agnew - Grim Douglas of Threave
• Pete Stewart - Richard Skowgall's Salute to the Burgh of Haddington from the Wall Heid

Duet for Pipes and Other Instruments- The Dunfermline Tassies (4 entries, judge Lee Moore)

• Euan Whitmore and Glenn Hawkins - Viennese Waltz, The Unmade Bed, Humours of Whisky, Boys of Redhill, Unnamed
• Julian Goodacre and Elspeth Smellie - I Only Want To Be With You, The Flaxen Lass of Always
• Richard Fernandez and Bob McLaine - Old Hag at the Kiln, Hector's Jig, McKenna's Jig

Seasoned Pipers - Nigel Richard Trophy (4 entries, judge Julian Goodacre)

• Martin Lowe - My Home Town, Murray's Fancy, The Wise Maid
• David Hannay - Itchy Fingers
• Helen Ross - The Eagle's Whistle, The Road to Banff, Wee Totum Fogg

Duet for Pipes and Voice - (New class, 1 entry, judge Julian Goodacre)

1. Helen Ross and Delia O'Hagan - Loving Hannah

Open Solo for Scottish Smallpipes - Colin Ross Trophy (5 entries, judge Iain MacInnes)

• Fin Moore - Angus G MacLeod, The Jewel in the Ocean, The High Drive
• Stuart Letford - I'll Gang Nae Mair tae' Yon Toun, The Lady's Plaything, Joseph

MacDonald's Jig, The Lasses of Melrose

• Rona Dawson - Lowland Jig, Piper Alpha,

Duets for Pipes - Mains Castle Medals (3 entries, judge Lee Moore)

• George Greig and Martin Lowe - The Mill, Mill O, Go to Berwick Johnny, The Foxhunter
• Stuart Letford and Bill Bennett - My Home Town, Mary Scott, Tail Toddle
• Tom Dingwall and Jeannie Campbell - Morag of Dunvegan, Major Alastair Ritchie, Egyptian Wedding March and

Open Solo for Lowland/Border Pipes - Hamish Moore Cup (5 entries, judge Iain

MacInnes)

• Fin Moore - King's House, Green of Ceres, Little Donald in the Pigpen, The Gossips'
• Euan Whitmore - Anada pa Gael, Because He Was a Bonnie Lad, Jack Daniel's Reel, Richard Dwyed
• Stuart Letford - Boolavogue, The Soup Dragon, The Old Hag at the Kiln, Thunderhead