May Day this year was the occasion of a celebration of the work of pipemaker and player extraordinaire Colin Ross. Colin has been a vital figure on the
Northumberland music scene for fifty
years and has played a leading role in promoting the music of both Northumberland and Scottish smallpipes. The LBPS was invited to provide  Scottish smallpipe and bellows pipe music as part of the evenings’s entertainment in the magnificent King’s Hall in Newcastle University and Chairman Martin Lowe, Secretary Judy Barker and Pete Stewart travelled south to play. The audience of around 150 people were suitably impressed by Judy’s performance of Sally Gardens, accompanying herself on smallpipes, and Martin accompanied her on The Banks of Sicily, playing a set of smallpipes made by Colin. Pete Stewart then played two tunes he had learnt via Colin some forty years earlier, on a set of Lowland pipes made by Colin in 1981 and kindly loaned for the occasion by David Stevenson. The three rounded off their set with a trio playing the Melrose hit tune, Paulo’s Waltz.
There was Northumbrian piping from several of the finest players and the evening provided a fitting celebration of a remarkable lifetime’s achievement.