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Strictly Come Piping 2012

On Saturday 8th December 2012, the SPSL held its annual invitational 'fun' competition, which has become known as 'Strictly Come Piping'. This year six pipers competed for the 'Pipe Band Forum' Trophy, a plinth mounted tenor drone with a silver shield attached to the stock which originally adorned the bagpipe of Pipe Major Lewis Beaton, founder member and first president of the SPSL. The whereabouts of the instrument upon which this shield was originally mounted are unknown but the plaque itself turned up on e-bay a few years ago and the purchaser donated it to the Society. The trophy has become a highly sought after prize.

The venue for this year’s event was the extremely well appointed and comfortable bar of the London Welsh Centre. The acoustics in this room are perfect for the bagpipe and allowed the contenders to perform at their very best. After introductions were made by Society President, Hugh Jamieson, the evening got underway. The format of the event this year was for each piper to play a selection of no more than twenty minutes with the aim of entertaining the audience who decide the winner with their votes. No other conditions or requirements applied. If the piper exceeded his allotted time he was given the signal to stop by the sounding of a bicycle horn. This device failed after the second competitor and was replaced by the Piping Co-ordinators trusty 'Acme Thunderer' referees whistle! Rumour has it that he is canvassing the Joint Committee for Judging and suggesting that all piping adjudicators be issued with this handy device!

First piper to take the floor was society stalwart Roger Huth sporting a new arctic camouflage bag cover! This year Roger's campaign was based mainly upon competition type reels. With no warm up he was straight into Pretty Marion followed by a host of other similar tunes. A great start setting the bar high for the remaining hopefuls. Despite Roger's eligibility for a rail card (and no it's not one of the 'Young Persons' variety) his fingering is till as crisp and clear as when I first heard him over thirty years ago.

Next up was former winner Alan Dunsmore. Opening his offering with the Cameron Quickstep, it soon became obvious that here was a man hungry to regain a trophy he believed should adorn his house for the next year! A mix of traditional and 'not so traditional' material followed. Alan's usual level of travelling support (in previous years various members of his family have travelled down from Scotland for the event especially to cheer him on) was not present but he had still persuaded several non-piping friends and work colleagues to come to support him, which was great to see.

Competitor number three was a 'first timer' for this event. Peter Harvie is an excellent player who served in the Scots Guards and is now a member of the pipe corps of the Los Angeles Scots band. Included in a broad ranging selection of tunes, we may have got an insight into what we can expect to hear LA Scots offering at Glasgow Green next year. If so, this will certainly be a band to listen out for in terms of musicality and entertainment.

After a short interval, Jamie Forrester appeared complete with Santa Claus hat and a pair of glasses which looked as though they had come from Elton John's most outrageous period. Last year Jamie donned an entire Father Christmas outfit complete with beard but explained that he needed to be 'cooler' this year - I'll let the fashion police be the judge of that! Jamie is a fine player who has been enjoying success around the games in Scotland in the last couple of years and it is only a matter of time before he brings a major trophy home to London. His performance included something for everyone - the traditionalists and those with more 'avante garde' taste. Great playing on a lovely bagpipe.

Then it was time for the youngsters to show the old hands how it should be done.

Morty Dickson is a pupil of Glenn Brown and Calum Beaumont at the National Piping Centre (in between attending school in Sherborne). He is a young man who obviously believes in the old adage that 'winners hang around with winners' as he spends some of his holiday time with his friend young Sandy Cameron and his family in Roy Bridge, Invernesshire. A combination of first class tuition and the company he keeps has turned Morty into a stunning young piper. A very diverse selection was well played and included seasonal Christmas carols, pop music chart toppers and mainstream pipe tunes. This is certainly a piper we will hear much more of in the future.

Last man standing ('man' is the accurate term here for he had celebrated his 18th birthday only a couple of days before) was Michael Basford. Michael has dominated the juvenile competition circuit in England for the last couple of years and has also made his mark against the adult amateurs when he has been allowed to play 'up'. He had obviously spent a lot of time constructing his performance which was based around tunes associated with the Scottish Piping Society of London. One or two of the connections took a little lateral thinking but I got the links eventually. He had a great bagpipe, played like a champion and introduced each part of his performance with a few words - and managed to do it all in 19 minutes 59 seconds! Evidence here that 'Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance'.

Whilst the audience cast their votes, other activities of the evening were wound up. Throughout the night, between performances, a piping quiz had been held with a wide variety of questions devised by the Hon. President and the Piping Co-ordinator. If the questions were too obscure for some, perhaps this is a reflection on how obsessed these two characters are with their hobby! One society member was heard to comment after being told one of the answers "Well I'm none the wiser, but much better informed" so at least we can say we achieved one of the educational objectives of the SPSL's constitution! The quiz was eventually won by a team captained by Vice President Jackie Roberts to good natured cries of 'Fix' from everyone else in the room!

The Christmas raffle also proved highly popular with some fantastic prizes including Christmas cakes baked by Lynda Jamieson the Hon Sec. These cakes are renowned for their mouth watering taste and possibly more so for the fact that their alcohol content is so high that transporting then requires an Excise goods movement licence! The lucky recipients can half their Christmas orders at the off-licence and still have a very merry time! One of these was Mrs. Annie Broderick, who is following in husband Tom's footsteps - he won the silver mounted Naill pipes in the draw at the Annual Competition in November.

And finally the time came for the results. Each member of the audience had been asked to choose a winner and a runner up and write the names on a slip of paper. After the votes had been counted, Michael Basford emerged a clear winner but closely pursued by Alan Dunsmore and Morty Dickson as joint runners-up. It must be said however that all of the pipers entertained magnificently and if there could only be one winner there were certainly no loser - except for those who had opted to stay at home with the TV and miss this event.

Competitor number three was a 'first timer' for this event. Peter Harvie is an excellent player who served in the Scots Guards and is now a member of the pipe corps of the Los Angeles Scots band. Included in a broad ranging selection of tunes, we may have got an insight into what we can expect to hear LA Scots offering at Glasgow Green next year. If so, this will certainly be a band to listen out for in terms of musicality and entertainment.

After a short interval, Jamie Forrester appeared complete with Santa Claus hat and a pair of glasses which looked as though they had come from Elton John's most outrageous period. Last year Jamie donned an entire Father Christmas outfit complete with beard but explained that he needed to be 'cooler' this year - I'll let the fashion police be the judge of that! Jamie is a fine player who has been enjoying success around the games in Scotland in the last couple of years and it is only a matter of time before he brings a major trophy home to London. His performance included something for everyone - the traditionalists and those with more 'avante garde' taste. Great playing on a lovely bagpipe.

Then it was time for the youngsters to show the old hands how it should be done.

Morty Dickson is a pupil of Glenn Brown and Callum Beaumont at the National Piping Centre (in between attending school in Sherborne). He is a young man who obviously believes in the old adage that 'winners hang around with winners' as he spends some of his holiday time with his friend young Sandy Cameron and his family in Roy Bridge, Invernesshire. A combination of first class tuition and the company he keeps has turned Morty into a stunning young piper. A very diverse selection was well played and included seasonal Christmas carols, pop music chart toppers and mainstream pipe tunes. This is certainly a piper we will hear much more of in the future.

Last man standing ('man' is the accurate term here for he had celebrated his 18th birthday only a couple of days before) was Michael Basford. Michael has dominated the juvenile competition circuit in England for the last couple of years and has also made his mark against the adult amateurs when he has been allowed to play 'up'. He had obviously spent a lot of time constructing his performance which was based around tunes associated with the Scottish Piping Society of London. One or two of the connections took a little lateral thinking but I got the links eventually. He had a great bagpipe, played like a champion and introduced each part of his performance with a few words - and managed to do it all in 19 minutes 59 seconds! Evidence here that 'Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance'.

Whilst the audience cast their votes, other activities of the evening were wound up. Throughout the night, between performances, a piping quiz had been held with a wide variety of questions devised by the Hon. President and the Piping Co-ordinator. If the questions were too obscure for some, perhaps this is a reflection on how obsessed these two characters are with their hobby! One society member was heard to comment after being told one of the answers "Well I'm none the wiser, but much better informed" so at least we can say we achieved one of the educational objectives of the SPSL's constitution! The quiz was eventually won by a team captained by Vice President Jackie Roberts to good natured cries of 'Fix' from everyone else in the room!

The Christmas raffle also proved highly popular with some fantastic prizes including Christmas cakes baked by Lynda Jamieson the Hon Sec. These cakes are renowned for their mouth watering taste and possibly more so for the fact that their alcohol content is so high that transporting then requires an Excise goods movement licence! The lucky recipients can half their Christmas orders at the off-licence and still have a very merry time! One of these was Mrs. Annie Broderick, who is following in husband Tom's footsteps - he won the silver mounted Naill pipes in the draw at the Annual Competition in November.