69^th Annual London Competition 

by Roddy Livingstone (Results at bottom of page)

On the first of November 2008, I had the best seat in the house for the Scottish Piping Society of London’s two premier events, The Bratach Gorm and the former winners March Strathspey and Reel (the latter also incorporates the J B Robertson march contest).

A few months ago, SPSL president Adam Sanderson asked me to be the reader for the Bratach and operate the lights for the tuning times.  Adam makes a very good job of tugging at your conscience with reasons why one should undertake tasks for the society.  This time he also promised me that ‘readers’ get a following of groupies – I think he made that one up!

Having set the alarm clock for five o’clock, I arrived in London just before eight and found the only London taxi driver who did not know were the Kensington Conference Centre was.  A quick phone call to Adam to confirm the address revealed that he was still taking breakfast at a nearby hotel along with the judges.

On arrival at the venue, I met up with a number of old friends before getting set up for the day.  The judges whom I was sitting alongside were Angus J MacLellan, Bill Livingstone and Iain Duncan.  I knew Angus and Bill slightly from the days when I competed in the 1980’s and was very pleased that they both remembered me.  Iain I obviously knew of, but we had never actually spoken before.  All three were very congenial company and between performances had a wealth of tales to tell.

The Bratach itself started slightly late as there was no electrical supply close enough to the bench to connect the tuning lights.  We compromised by agreeing that I would raise a hand when a minute of the allotted time was remaining and all of the competitors seemed happy with this.

All thirteen entrants turned up and there were no breakdowns.  It is very hard to criticise anyone playing at this level as any slips were of a minor nature so I will not even attempt it!  However, to my mind three performances were outstanding and as things turned out, this view was shared by the judges.

Iain Speirs ‘Big Nameless’ (Cherede Darieva) was a masterpiece showing maturity that I have only heard in a few players such as Donald MacPherson, Jimmy MacIntosh, Iain MacFadyen, John A MacLellan and Hugh McCallum.  I was not surprised to learn a day or so later that Iain is going to Donald for tuition. However Iain’s style is still his own.  I spoke to his Dad (Tom) a couple of days later who was rightly very proud..  The Speirs family have a long term connection with the London piping scene with Iain’s grandfather, Jock, having been Pipe Major of the 3^rd Battalion of the London Scottish regiment during WW2.   Jock was also a great reed maker.  Tom has always been a keen supporter of the London contest as a competitor and in recent years an adjudicator.

Gordon Walker gave a beautiful rendition of Kinlochmoidart No.2 on an excellent pipe.  I have heard  (and played) the No.1 setting of this tune played many times  but this setting is something quite different.  This is why Archibald Campbell classifies the two versions completely separately in the Kilberry Book.

Jack Lee’s “Craigellachie” was another great performance.  This is a really hard tune which I was ‘put through’ by James Campbell but would never have dared enter in competition.  The question is “How can Jack make everything look so easy?”, and the answer is “Not only does he have such a high level of ability, but he also puts in more hours practice than most”.

The bench had elected to get the Bratach over before breaking for lunch, so we recommenced with the senior M,S & R at around three in the afternoon.  By this time we had managed to get tables moved so that the judges were in a more central position and we had a power supply for the tuning count down clock and a laptop computer linked to a projector so that the competitors names and selected tunes could be displayed on a big screen.  Jan, who prepared all of the slides and operated the computer did a fantastic job, especially where the order had to be changed due to competitors commitments to other events.

Whilst at this level of competition there is no such thing as a bad performance, overall the memorable performance for me was Jack Lee’s rendition of ‘The Little Cascade’.  I first heard Jack play in about 1980, again at the London Competition.  If memory serves me correctly, Jack played this tune back then and had me, as a teenager, completely mesmerised.  It was nice to see such a broad selection of tunes submitted (and selected) especially some of the marches which had appeared to fall out of fashion such as Bonnie Ann, The Pap of Glencoe, The Marchioness of Tulibardine  and Parker’s Welcome to Perthshire.  I mentioned earlier that the senior March, Strathspey and Reel also incorporates the judging of the senior march competition for the J B Robertson Rose Bowl.  I was fortunate enough to receive tuition from J B for the few years prior to his death.  With the exception of Simon Marshall, nobody played in a style resembling that of J B himself.  Times move on.

All in all, an excellent day!

Roddy Livingstone