Wind farm charity secures future of piping competition
ONE OF the world’s most prestigious piping events, the Pipe Major Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition, has been secured in its home town of Stornoway for the next few years thanks to a lifeline donation from a wind farm charity.
The Point and Sandwick Trust, which runs the community-owned turbines at Beinn Ghrideag, has pledged £5,000 to the competition every year for five years.
It means the annual competition, which is organised by the Lewis and Harris Piping Society, can continue to be held in Stornoway, instead of having to be relocated to somewhere such as Glasgow to reduce costs.
The competition costs a lot of money to stage – around £11,000 – because the piping society foots the bill for the air fares and accommodation for all the pipers taking part, as well as the judges.
Increasing financial pressure could have meant the piping society moving the competition to the mainland to cut the size of its travel and accommodation bill. With many of the usual competitors living in the Glasgow area, moving the competition to the city would have been the obvious choice.
Point and Sandwick Trust chairman Angus McCormack said he was delighted to help keep it at home. ‘We have a strong ethos of supporting arts and cultural activities on the island,’ he said. ‘Piping is an integral part of our culture and we are very pleased to be able to help the piping society in its efforts to continue this prestigious annual competition in Stornoway.’
This year’s competition took place in the Caladh Hotel on Friday last week and was followed by a ceilidh at night and a workshop for pipers on Saturday.
The competition – which celebrated its 25th year – celebrates the musical legacy of PM Donald MacLeod, one of Stornoway’s most famous sons.
Donald was an outstanding player who won all the major competitions, some of them several times. He was also a tutor and a Seaforth Highlander but it was for his prolific compositions, including 26 piobaireachds, that he is best remembered.
The Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition was created to honour his memory and celebrate his music. The competition is split into two sections – the ‘Cèol Mòr’ (piobaireachd) and the Cèol Beag (march, strathspey and reel) – but most of the tunes played are Donald MacLeod ones.
The pipers who took part this year were Finlay Johnston, Ben Duncan, Niall Stewart, Roderick MacLeod, Craig Sutherland, Iain Speirs, Glenn Brown and Angus MacColl.
The judges were Dr Angus MacDonald, Iain MacFadyen and William Morrison. Fear an Tighe is John Wilson.