The 70th Annual London Competition 7th Nov 2009
Saturday
the 7th of November was yet another extremely busy day for the
SPSL. There's been some mistaken reports that it was our 70th
Anniversary, but this is not the case. The first London competition was
held in 1932 at the London Scottish Regimental HQ back when the
premises was in Buckingham Gate. After 1939 there was a gap while World
War 2 raged around the globe. The London Competition resumed in 1947,
when Robert Reid took both the Bratach Gorm and the Gillies Memorial
Trophy, just as Stuart Liddell did on the 7th. The 5 other pipers who
have achieved the Bratach/Gillies double are Donald MacLeod, William H
MacDonald, R.U. Brown, Robert Wallace and Roddy MacLeod. I hope you
won't cringe too much when I say that's quite a magnificent 7 that
Stuart is completing there.I feel that the day was a great success, great piping, great friendly atmosphere and just about everything ran smoothly. It really is a lot to fit into one day, but it was achieved with a lot of hard work and good will. I enjoyed having a banter with those of you that stopped for a chat. I'm quite often busy during the day, so apologies to anyone that only got a swift "Hello, how ye' doin'" as I went by. The London Comp always has a good atmosphere and 2009 was no exception. Thanks to all who helped make sure of it.
At this point , I'd like to thank our sponsors, William Grant & Sons Ltd, the Peter Fleming Charitable Trust, Ralph Potter, Angus Nicol, Bruno Schroder, the Highland Society of London, the Gaelic Society of London, the Highlands and Islands Society of London, the Piobaireachd Society, the London Highland Club, the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, the London Scottish Regimental Trust, the Pinstripe Highlanders and the Click Group. Without the generosity of these groups and individuals, we would not be able to hold our annual competition, so we really do extend our most profound gratitude.
As usual I'd like to thank all those who helped out on the day, the organisers, the judges, the competitors, but with a special thank you to the stewards who worked so professionally you'd think they did it for a living. As a special thanks, we are giving free admission to the Willie McCallum recital on the 28th to everyone who stewarded on the day. Enjoy!
Additional thanks go to the McCallum Bagpipe company, who provided prizes for the Juvenile competition and for our fundraising raffle.
Liz Maxwell of the Wm Grant company also provided us a raffle prize in the shape of a bottle of Balvenie, which was won by Willie McCallum Senior of Campbeltown. As well as sending a bottle of whisky to Campbeltown, why don't we send some coals to Newcastle while we're at it!
A special mention goes to the David Naill bagpipe company, who provided the SPSL with a fantastic full set of engraved sterling silver/aged art ivory DN5 pipes for our raffle. This act of generosity helped us raise a considerable sum that will help us put on future competitions. The winner was Emmet Conway, who was delighted to be holding the winning ticket. Emmet also took a first and a second in the C grade comps, so I'm sure he'll remember the day for a long time.
I hope all who attended had a great day.
Adam Sanderson.
Some pictures from the day are below. As always, click on them for a larger image. We are sorry, but we can't feature everyone on our website. Keep scrolling down for the results!
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SPSL Champion Piper
2009
Stuart Liddell
Bratach Gorm Premier
Piobaireachd
1st Stuart Liddell
2nd Bruce Gandy
3rd Gordon Walker
4th Willie McCallum
5th Roddy MacLeod
William Gillies Memorial
Cup for Piobaireachd
1st Stuart Liddell
2nd Bruce Gandy
3rd James Murray
4th Willie McCallum
5th Glenn Brown,
Glasgow
MacFadyen Quaich/London
Medallion MSR
1st Willie McCallum
2nd Callum Beaumont
3rd Iain Speirs
4th Niall Stewart
5th Roddy MacLeod
J.B. Robertson Silver
Rose Bowl for March
1st James Murray
2nd Willie McCallum
3rd Roddy Macleod
4th Stuart Liddell
5th Callum Beaumont
Mary Flora Beaton Cup
for Hornpipe & Jig
1st Stuart Liddell
2nd Glenn Brown
3rd Gordon Walker
A-Grade
Competitions
R.G. Lawrie Rams Horn
Snuff Mill for Piobaireachd
1st Simon McKerrell
2nd Callum Beaumont
3rd Innes Smith
4th Jonathan Greenlees
5th Andy Rogers
Strachan Memorial
Trophy for MSR
1st Gordon McCready
2nd Andrea Boyd
3rd Alan Johnstone
4th Andrew Carlisle
5th Cameron Drummond
Donald Forbes Medal
for Hornpipe & Jig
1st Jonathan Greenlees
2nd Gordon McCready
3rd Alan Johnstone
B-Grade
Competitions
The Angus Nicol Award
for Overall B Grade Winner
Derek Midgley
The John Roe Plate
for Piobaireachd
1st Faye Henderson
2nd Derek Midgley
3rd Ashleigh Bell
4th Tom Glover
5th Xavier Bouderiou
London Scottish
Hodden Grey MSR
1st Sylvain Hamon
2nd James MacPhee
3rd Derek Midgley
4th Craig Muirhead
5th Keith Bowes
Hugh MacMillan Trophy
for Hornpipe & Jig
1st Derek Midgley
2nd Sylvain Hamon
3rd Mike Fitzhenry
C-Grade
Competitions
National Piping
Centre Piobaireachd Trophy
1st Alan Clark
2nd Duncan Beattie
3rd Craig Muirhead
4th Andrew Travers
5th Peter McAllister
SPSL C Grade MSR
1st Scott Wallace
2nd Emmet Conway
3rd Alan Clark
4th Duncan Beattie
5th Douglas Gardiner
SPSL C Grade Hornpipe
& Jig
1st Emmet Conway
2nd Alan Clark
3rd Scott Wallace
Amateur
Competitions (Clasp Grade One)
London
Highland Club Challenge Cup (Piobaireachd)
1st
Sebastian Bodigou
Highland
Society of London Targe MSR)
1st Alan
Bradford
Peter
Richardson Award for Hornpipe and Jig
1st David
MacLaughlin
Juvenile
(Under 18) Events
SPSL Piobaireachd
1st Bradley Parker
2nd Graham Drummond
3rd Iain Wilson
British Airways Pipe
Band Trophy MSR
1st Graham Drummond
2nd Calum Moffatt
3rd Bradley Parker
Highlands and Islands
Society Slow Air & Jig
1st Stephen Gray
2nd Calum Moffatt
3rd Bradley Parker
2009
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