OLDEN PIPERS

Southland Times, Issue 25305, 7 June 1935, Page 8

OLDEN PIPERS

HIGHLAND SOCIETY.

FAMOUS COMPETITIONS IN SCOTLAND.

An event of considerable interest to the Scottish community will take place at Invercargill to-morrow when the Invercargill Piping Competitions Society will hold competitions in the Victoria Hall. These will be conducted on the same lines as those held in Scotland 150 years ago. Thus it is of interest to look back to the stirring gatherings which tested the merit of the world’s best pipers so long ago. An excellent account of the competitions given by the Highland Society of London to the best performers on the “great Highland bagpipe,” from the year 1781, is contained in a volume compiled in 1838 by Angus Mac Kay and published by a Scottish firm. Annual Prizes. The Highland Society of London, of which one of the .first dukes in Scotland was then president, being desirous that the ancient spirit of the Great Pipe, which in former times called the clans in Scotland to war, should be revived, was pleased to order annual prizes to be played for at the Falkirk Tryst (the book states with reference to the inaugural fixture in 1781). The first prize was to be a set of new pipes, made by Hugh Robertson, Edinburgh, and forty merks of Scots money, the second prize thirty merks and the third a like sum.

Some gentlemen as a deputation from the society at Glasgow and the agent from' Edinburgh made their appearance at Falkirk the day preceding that appointed for the competition. They met on the following morning and adjourned to the Mason Lodge; when, after hearing an excellent Gaelic poem recited by an old grey-headed bard (which he composed for the occasion), in the presence of a select company of ladies and gentlemen, thirteen competing pipers, an& the maker of the prize pipes, the deputation and the agent proceeded to the election of a preses and six gentlemen to be judges of the merits of the performers. The preses chosen on this occasion was universally allowed to be not only a very fine player himself, but one of the first judges of the instrument in Scotland; while one of the judges chosen from the Glasgow deputation was likewise acknowledged to be an excellent performer on that warlike _ instrument and in every way qualified for determining on the merits of the candidates. Trying Out Candidates. A mode of trial was next adopted which reflected great honour upon the impartiality of the judges. The competitors were conducted to a room apart where, from one of their bonnets, they drew lots for priority of performance. This done, the person who drew lot No. 1 was conducted by a private door to a small court below the windows of the lodge in such a manner that the judges neither could see nor know the particular performer. Each person was made to play four different tunes, while the judges continued taking accurate notes of the performance. The judges almost unanimously awarded the first prize to Patrick MacGregor, piper to Henry Baineaves, Esq., of Adradour, in the parish of Mullin and county of Perth. Third Finger Missing.

Although this piper wanted almost the whole third finger of the upper hand (on the chanter), yet he managed his pipes with the greatest dexterity; he used the little finger instead and was known by the appellation of Patrick Na Coraig. This man’s son became piper to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, Earl of Strathearn, and officiated with great applause at the meetings of the Highland Society of London. He died suddenly of apoplexy. The second prize went to Charles MacArthur, piper to the Earl of Eglinton, and the third to John MacGregor senior, aged 73, piper to LieutenantColonel John Campbell of Glenlyon. The first three competitions were held in Falkirk (Stirlingshire), after which, in 1784, the Highland Society of London arranged to hold them in Edinburgh in accordance with the increasing popularity of the fixture. They were held in Edinburgh annually until 1826, the period then being lengthened to three years.