A category to cover everything else that’s not covered by pipe bands, music and pipes, kilts & supplies.
I learned many year ago not to boast about the often great weather in Vancouver. It first dawned on me soon after I arrived in Vancouver that not everyone gets excited about a sunny, 15 degree day in February.  The realization came while winter sailing in English Bay. I was headed to Bowen Island with a …
Read more “An inkling of spring and the promise of bagpiping in the great Vancouver outdoors”
1. Hire a bagpiper for your St. Patrick’s Day party or pub crawl.Top off your green-themed house party with a grand entrance of a fully kilted bagpiper. Celtic tunes echo while everyone dances and drinks green beer. Or join any number of pubs and bars in Vancouver throwing parties with pipers and dancers this weekend. …
Read more “Shamrocks and bagpipes: Five great ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Vancouver.”
The ancient story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is a well known children’s fairy tale. The citizens of the German town of Hamelin needed to rid their community of rats. They hired a piper for the job, who played his pipes and led all the rodents from their nooks and cranny’s to their death …
Vancouver – A few months ago I was bitterly complaining about our lousy spring weather. “Junuary†was the term being tossed about in the Lower Mainland of BC. I was piping on many of those rainy, spring mornings, and often the thermometer showed single digits. It made for a miserable May and June. However, it’s …
One of the advantages of living in Vancouver is the lack of a real winter. Compared to the rest of British Columbia and most of the country, we have it easy here in the southwest corner of the province. A dusting of snow now and then throughout the winter months, rain that does not need …
Read more “The calendar says May, but where is spring in Vancouver?”
Edinburgh, (ANI): Two communities in Tanzania have gained appreciation for making bagpipes from ethical sources of wood for the first time. Most Highland bagpipes, other traditional Scottish pipes and clarinets are made from African blackwood, which comes from the rare and threatened mpingo tree found only in certain parts of Africa. Now, according to a …
Read more “Ethically sound bagpipes – from Tanzania, Africa”
The sun is shining in Vancouver, the sky is blue and finally the summer breezes are upon us. It’s great to be back on the west coast, but it’s memories of my recent trip to Nova Scotia, to family and friends, of sunshine, beaches and music, that continue to flood my mind as I settle …
Read more “Bagpiping in Vancouver: Bagpiping in Nova Scotia.”
Spring brings a lot of joy to those good people who play the pipes and drums. We can play outside again. Today, the thermometer reached 16 degrees in some places in the Lower Mainland. It may have been warmer, but 16 is pretty nice on March 23 in Canada. The axis has turned a bit …
Read more “Preparing for bagpipes in the Vancouver sunshine”