Let’s all offer sincere congratulations to CoP shop manager Willie Park who got married today to his US bride Debbie. They met at the New England School last year and she has been MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart ever since! Best wishes to the happy couple.
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British at Annan on Saturday. Here are the judges:

Good news for Strathclyde Police. I hear P/M Duncan Nicholson will be free to lead the band.
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Solo pipers, don’t forget your MOD entry. An Comunn have sent this: With preparations for the Royal National Mod 2012 in Dunoon well underway, An Comunn Gàidhealach would like to remind any potential junior and senior piping competitors that the entry deadline for Mod 2012 piping competitions is Friday 13^thJuly 2012. Any late or incomplete entries submitted after this date will not be accepted. This year’s junior and senior piping will take place on Saturday  13th October 2012. For any further information or details of how to enter please contact: Rena MacAskill, Mod Administrator, An Comunn Gàidhealach, Balnain House, 40 Huntly Street, Inverness, IV3 5HR. Telephone: 01463 709 705. Email: . An entry form can also be downloaded and submitted from, www.acgmod.org/nationalmod/entryform . For any further information regarding Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail, please visit www.acgmod.org or www.dunoonmod2012.org
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The PT has gone to bed. It is a special tribute edition to P/M Donald MacLeod who died 30 years ago this week. Also inside we have the last episode in Dr John Frater’s CoP Lecture in which he makes some important points about piobaireachd and staff notation. Donald Drone makes a welcome return after a three month holiday.
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Peter Mueller has sent this: ‘For the 10th time, Switzerland’s national Solo- and Pipe Band Championships will be held in St Ursen, a village just outside Switzerland’s capital City, the City of Berne. More than 15,000 spectators witnessed Switzerland’s largest gathering of its kind last year. The popular event also features the annual Highland Games competition and is jointly organised by the local Kulturverein (www.HighlandGames.ch) and the Pipe Band Association of Switzerland “PBAS” (www.pbas.ch). Adjudicators nominated by the RSPBA for the upcoming competition this August are: Mr John Wood and Mrs Jennifer Hutcheon, Piping and Mr William J Black, Drumming. Adjudicator, Mr Gordon Lawrie conducted the pre-qualification event held earlier in June. This scheme was applied for the first time and the initial feedback received from everyone involved was encouraging. Photo showing RSPBA Adjudicators back in 2011: William Garrett (Piping) Colin Moffett (Piping) Alexander Steele (Drumming). We are fortunate enough to also announce that champion piper, Mr Robert Watt from Ireland, has agreed to perform on stage during the event. It is expected that the event will grow from strength-to-strength, as even more Pipe Bands, Solo Pipers and Drummers have already registered.’
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Don’t forget the new iPad App CoP Bookstore. The July PT and Pipe Band magazines will be available there next week. Put CoP Bookstore in the search field on the iTunes App store and this is what you will see:
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Don’t forget the CoP End of Term competition next Monday evening at 7pm. Open to all College students (home, abroad, adult, junior etc.) and affiliated bands and societies. Prizes for every level of ability. Entry form on the website.
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Drumtochty Games were cancelled at the weekend and Stirling have ceased the solo piping (more on this in the PT) underling how important it is for pipers to support the games.
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Murray Blair has a new deluxe flight case out. Check out the ad. on the College home page. It looks the business as they say. Murray writes: ‘It’s a premium quality case and we’ve set out creating something that’s similar in standard to what other instruments would use (violin, cello, saxophone etc) for example, a violin worth around $1500, most are sold with a $350 case… So for this, yes, it’s more expensive than other bagpipe cases on the market however higher quality with protection or  ’suspension’ as it’s called. Not competing for who can make the cheapest pipe case, our case is dedicated to a piper who’s invested a lot of money into their instrument, reeds, expensive set of pipes etc and wants something that’s designed well, secure and looks good. It also might help get a flight upgrade at times!’ To order email Gary at [email protected].

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