LBPS Strategy Day. Glasgow 25 November 2023
Summary of Main Topics Covered
The 40th Anniversary Burns Supper
Saturday 27th January 2024
The venue for the Burns Supper is The Globe Inn in Dumfries, an establishment that was, in fact, Burns’ 'local’. It still has his favoured chair, his bed and a few other items from the period.
The Globe Inn is now a fine dining establishment and our event will be held in the private dining room. The Committee feels that this adds due weight to such a milestone event in our history, and as such, tickets for a three-course meal and some wine are priced at £55 each.
We are currently pulling together speakers for the evening, and hope to announce these soon, but can confirm so far that Chris Bacon will pipe in the haggis, Stuart Letford (Convenor) will deliver The Immortal Memory, Billy Young of Langholm will deliver Tam o’Shanter and Holy Willie’s Prayer.
- Chris is a longtime member of the LBPS and a superb exponent of Border pipes. He lives in Allendale, Northumbria and has been involved in piping and cultural events for many years. In recent years, he was the organiser of the LBPS Pibroch Weekend with Allan MacDonald.
- Stuart Letford is the current Convenor of the LBPS, and joined the Society in the mid-1990s. He was the last editor of the Piping Times and manager of the College of Piping. As a member of the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band he has performed in many piping concerts.
- Billy Young is a very weel kent figure in the Scottish Borders and is renowned for his delivery of Holy Willie’s Prayer and Tam o’ Shanter. In the Globe Inn in September 2012, Billy won the fiercely contested Tam o’ Shanter World Championship.
Billy Young reccieves his trophy from Southern Scottish Counties Burns Association (SSCBA) President Jane Brown at the 2012 competition. World Federation President Bob Stewart looks on.
We hope to visit Ellisland Farm the following day, as well as the Burns Mausoleum. If there is time, we may visit Angus MacKay’s cairn by the Nith and Willie Nicolson’s grave down in Borgue.
As you may know, Nicolson was a piper and a poet, and Gordon Mooney wrote a great article about him in the June 1998 edition of Common Stock: click here to view the article.
The Globe Inn is not a hotel, however, but Dumfries has plenty of accommodation options.
A ‘Burns Tour’ of The Globe can be had for an extra £10.
BOOKING FORM
The LBPS Collogue and AGM
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the LBPS!
The LBPS Collogue and AGM was held on 16th September 2023 in the Burgh Halls in Linlithgow, West Lothian.
We had a memorable 40th-Anniversary Collogue last month in Linlithgow, a town that played a pivotal role in the early years of the Society. We had congratulatory messages from founder members Mike Rowan and Gordon Mooney; and Jeannie Campbell, another long-term stalwart, spoke about those early years.
The format of Jeannie’s presentation was in an ‘interview’-style with Convenor, Stuart Letford. It was observed by a few attendees that we should consider repeating this format at next year’s Collogue and for it to include a key figure in the middle years of the LBPS’ history. Watch this space ….
The day itself ran almost blemish-free were it not for the IT gremlins that affected Bruce Hitchings’ presentation. Bruce dialled in from his US home in Arizona and his subject was the harmonic nature of the bagpipe. This is a ‘big’ subject and one that can at times be above most people's heads, but Bruce did well in conveying this to those present.
The Committee’s grateful thanks go to Jeannie, Bruce and to Judy Barker, Matt Seattle and Pete Stewart for their excellent presentations.
Photo by Pete Stewart
Colin Melville, winner of the LBPS 40th anniversary composing competition, receives his winning cheque from Stuart Letford.
Photo by Pete Stewart.
Collogue participants playing Colin Melville's tune The Lowland & Border Pipers' Society.
The agenda for the day was as follows:
- 10.30 Convenor’s Welcome plus a mass playing of Colin Melville’s tune for the LBPS.
- 10.45 The Early Years of the LBPS (including the history of College of Piping) – Jeannie Campbell in conversation with LBPS Convenor, Stuart Letford.
- 11.30 Devising Harmonies – Matt Seattle on his approach to devising ingenious harmonies.
- 12.30 Singing Whilst Piping – Judy Barker has long been acknowledged as a skilled exponent of singing whilst accompanying herself on smallpipes. She explains how she does it – and offers tips on how we could, too.
- AGM
- 14.15 The David Young mss – Pete Stewart explains why we need to know more about these often-overlooked manuscripts and why the LBPS is considering publishing them in book form next year.
- 14.45 The Harmonic Nature of the Bagpipe – Bruce Hitchings MBE BEM is an authority on the harmonic dynamics of bagpipes and explains this often complicated subject to us.
- 15.30 Session for all: The set tunes for a mass session in the afternoon are: The Linlithgow March / Lord Randal and The Twa Corbies / Tail Toddle / The Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society / Chevy Chase / Belle Bergère (a French Valse) / Happy We’ve Been A’thegither.
The scores for the tunes that everyone played are available here.
The LBPS Collogue and AGM - 16th September 2023
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the LBPS!
The LBPS Collogue and AGM will be held on 16th September 2023 in the Burgh Halls in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The Burgh Halls are easily accessible and within a short walk of the train station.
https://linlithgowburghhalls.co.uk/ .
We hope that many people will come along and participate in what will be a very sociable and memorable 40th-anniversary event.
There will be a lot of playing time, too, so please bring your pipes.
The entrance fee is £20 and will include tea and coffee and a tasty lunch at the venue. There will be a variety of dishes on the menu and the choices will be shown on the Collogue booking form. Please make your selection when you book.
The bar will be open to accompany lunch etc.; and during lunch, we hope to have a performance and viewing of Donald Lindsay’s film-with-live-soundtrack: How’ve You Been.
The booking form for the Collogue is available below.
The order for the day will be roughly as follows:
- 10.00 Arrival: tea/coffee
- 10.30 Convenor’s Welcome plus a mass playing of Colin Melville’s tune for the LBPS.
- 10.45 The Early Years of the LBPS (including the history of College of Piping) – Jeannie Campbell in conversation with LBPS Convenor, Stuart Letford.
- 11.30 Devising Harmonies – Matt Seattle on his approach to devising ingenious harmonies.
- 12.15 Tea/coffee break
- 12.30 Singing Whilst Piping – Judy Barker has long been acknowledged as a skilled exponent of singing whilst accompanying herself on smallpipes. She explains how she does it – and offers tips on how we could, too.
- 13.15 Lunch and AGM
- 14.15 The David Young mss – Pete Stewart explains why we need to know more about these often-overlooked manuscripts and why the LBPS is considering publishing them in book form next year.
- 14.45 The Harmonic Nature of the Bagpipe – Bruce Hitchings MBE BEM is an authority on the harmonic dynamics of bagpipes and explains this often complicated subject to us.
- 15.30 Session for all: The set tunes for a mass session in the afternoon are: The Linlithgow March / Lord Randal and The Twa Corbies / Tail Toddle / The Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society / Chevy Chase / Belle Bergère (a French Valse) / Happy We’ve Been A’thegither.
The scores for the tunes are available here.
If you have any queries about the day, please do not hesitate to drop us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
