Please check your email and enter your one time pin below:   Open in Gmail Sorry there was an error loading the audio Welcome to one of the quietest villages in the Karoo: Rietbron If you’re an adrenalin junkie, a wild adventurist, someone who can’t sit still for a second or a person who needs a thrill a minute to survive, then you should bypass Rietbron.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads It lies somewhere on a 150km detour between Beaufort West and Willowmore crossing the Amos River and the Muiskraal River Read more: A traveller’s leisurely guide from Rietbron to Willowmore But Rietbron does not specialise in flowing rivers or mountain ridges in the distance Most people think of the Karoo as a flat plate of geography floating in the belly of South Africa You’ll always see rocky bumps on the horizon where the horizon is only occasionally broken by the perky ears of a hee-hawing donkey straying into your field of vision You have to want to visit Rietbron to get there Pretoria and Cape Town come here and fall in love with the space which are renovated by a talented and enterprising builder-engineer local farmers between Beaufort West and Willowmore built themselves a church and box-like Nagmaal houses here Which is how most of the settlements in the Karoo began Way back in 1947, long before she became Queen, the young Princess Elizabeth stopped off at Klipplaat when the Royal Family were on their grand railroad tour of South Africa.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads Read more: Exploring the ominous tunnel, the train, the Poor School and padstal discoveries During South Africa’s golden century of rail travel At one stage you could hardly move for all the comings and goings of the old steam behemoths heading for Cape Town This was of great benefit to the local mohair and wool farmers wanting to ship their products to market there was a minor ostrich boom in the area for a while and the rail system helped that business along too quartermasters and mountains of military gear Not far away lurked the mounted Boer units waiting to disrupt this rail traffic in any way they could that the supplies on the trains included a case or two of Scotch whisky The desolate loco outside Klipplaat – memories of yesteryear In 1979, the locomotives were phased out in favour of diesel and the little village went into decline. Today, there’s a rusty loco standing outside Klipplaat as a memorial to better days. Bikers and overlanders enjoying the wide landscapes of the Karoo often stop here and pose for photographs with the old train in the background.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads Jansenville, on the southern reaches of the Karoo Heartland, is brimming over with angora goats, mohair and country legends.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads A local woman once had her garden gnome stolen from her farm stall and pleaded publicly for its return so much publicity had been generated that the woman received many The beautifully kept Jansenville Mother Church South Africa’s first mohair museum is in Jansenville part of a Mohair Meander which includes Beaufort West When Michelle Obama wore a designer cardigan made of mohair from a Karoo farm in the Camdeboo district the news item made fashion headlines around the world Movie stars and talk show hosts gushed over mohair which now has the cachet of cashmere and silk Read more: Mohair – a fibre named desire With more than 668,000 angora goats, South Africa produces an annual clip of nearly 2.3 million kilograms – around half the world’s mohair. The vast majority of that comes from the Eastern Cape Karoo – and Jansenville is the country capital of mohair.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads Most of this sumptuous fibre goes to the textile weavers and fashion houses of Italy, but a fair amount stays at home and is transformed into blankets, carpets, scarves and some of the finest socks ever to grace a human foot. advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads Before the beautiful Dutch Reformed Church building went up in the Eastern Cape village of Pearston faithful worshippers would gather under the pear tree on Rustenburg A dominee (preacher) would ride across from Somerset East and do the honours This may have been fun during the spring months of September and October and again in the autumn months of April and May But during high summer when ripe pears bombed down without warning But was it so significant that the settlement was later called Pearston The village was in fact named after one John Pears a dedicated English teacher who later preached in the Dutch Reformed Church and dedicated much of his life to the local community Pearston’s DR Church replaced the nearby pear tree as a centre of local worship Of all the farms in the Karoo, Cranemere must be among the best known. Set not far from Pearston on the Graaff-Reinet road, Eve Palmer describes it lovingly in her evocative classic, The Plains of Camdeboo.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads This was also the first farm in the area to be permanently inhabited thanks to a fresh and cheerful spring discovered by Gerrit Lodewyk Coetzee He dammed the spring and created a lake in the desert precisely the reason George Palmer bought the land from him in 1880 you’ll see the most imposing building is the Dutch Reformed Mother Church It’s generally a Victorian-era masterpiece that looms over the rest of town like a spiritual guardian And that’s why most Karoo towns came into being Farmers in the area needed somewhere to pray and socialise so they had churches built and congregations formed around them And the dominee normally had the best house in town An Englishman called William Moore had a farm here at the northern entrance to the magical Baviaans Wilderness Farmers from all over the district used to gather here and play tennis It was such an agreeable spot that a town was declared here Modern-day Willowmore still has the pace and the look of yesterday Golf has become the most popular sport and the Karoo-style buildings are generally well preserved nearly 2,000km of winter cycling through the vast Karoo from the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal down to Cape Town But if you like your transport a little more sedate then hop on the Willow Limo and see the town from between the twitching ears of a couple of slow-moving donkeys For more stories on the Karoo from Julienne du Toit and Chris Marais The Karoo Quartet Special (Karoo Roads 1 – 4) consists of more than 60 Karoo stories and hundreds of black and white photographs. Priced at R960 (including taxes and courier in South Africa), this Heritage Collection can be ordered from [email protected] ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " ‘I am not much of a talker,” the new ward councillor for Pearston in the Blue Crane Municipality explains from behind his cluttered desk in the town’s liquor store Herbert Davenport has lived in the Karoo town since he was six months old and the Davenport family’s roots run deep in the community. advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads The only other choice was to get into politics and fix the problems,” he said he won a by-election in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality and was elected in a ward that had been under ANC control for 30 years Read more in Daily Maverick: Patriotic Alliance shocks ANC, DA in Western Cape wards, local party bags historic win The municipality includes KwaNojoli (formerly known as Somerset East) it is doubtful that the municipality can continue doing business R4.8-million in irregular expenditure relating to the Pearston water purification system and material non-compliance with financial legislation significant errors in financial statements and significant internal control deficiencies The dispute relates to the municipality’s failure to pay more than R3.8-million in retirement fund contributions for municipal workers between 2007 and 2013 The union also claimed that it is owed R22-million in interest This led to the seizure of municipal assets A by-election had to be held in Pearston after ward councillor Mncedi Mali suddenly resigned Davenport’s victory means that the ANC and the DA now hold five seats each in the Blue Crane Municipality in KwaNojoli but because things were so bad in Pearston but now people say it is God’s will that I stay but he got tired of listening to late-night drunken conversations and sold it he and a team of retired artisans went into the field to visit the pump stations around the town They devised a plan to fix leaks and calculated where more pumps were needed Davenport said the town’s water problems were made worse by a water purification plant built by the municipality The main road in the Karoo town of Pearston Members of the plumbing team put together by Herbert Davenport pop in to provide feedback Herbert Davenport’s fuel station in Pearston is as neat as a pin The road leading into Pearston from Somerset East parts of the town were in the grips of a three-week water outage “I would love to know why nothing is being done,” Davenport said The whole town is built on an underground lake Read more in Daily Maverick: 2024 elections But only two of the town’s boreholes are working with pumps that Davenport paid for himself So Davenport and “Uncle Sarel Cilliers” are walking the lines and seeing what must be fixed I usually make a fool of myself at these things I said I am a person who likes to do things I have grown up in front of many people in this town One of the women who worked for us for many years is struggling with her legs and with walking and she is one of the people who has to carry water,” he says he was told there would be a motorcade in his honour “I was expecting maybe 10 cars, but 30 cars came. People were running along the cars and singing and chanting,” Davenport said. “It was very good. In the ops room, a woman started crying. It was the first time in 30 years that the DA won a ward from the ANC.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads “I promised the community that a third of my paycheck would be deposited in a special account to help fix the water in the town.”advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads But he is not one to gloat. “I know the people who support the ANC, and they are hurt. “I think what will help us is that the farming community is passionate about preserving Pearston.” He said the other urgent issue was the town’s extensive electricity problem.  In its integrated development plan (IDP), the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality admitted that it did not have an approved Water Services Development Plan. There are 10,604 households in the municipality.  Pearston residents get their water from boreholes only, and according to the IDP, an augmented water supply project was started to ensure more water security for Pearston. The IDP stated that two boreholes in the town do not function due to vandalism, a lack of electrical connection and budget constraints. A follow-up project has been initiated to complete Phase 2 of the water supply in Pearston. But even the water truck providing emergency water, Davenport said, did not always make all the required stops. “Even the locks on the pump station gates don’t close properly. You just need a welding machine to fix it,” he said. DM Daily Maverick’s Election 2024 coverage is supported, in part, with funding from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and vehicles supplied by Ford. Don’t worry the ANC will recommend a vote of no confidence to try and get rid of Davenport, as he will become an embarrassment to them in showing how municipalities should be run by hands on well educated people. ‘n Boer maak ‘n plan. Thank the gods we have the likes of Herbert Davenport to help fix this broken land. At least there are 5 non-ANC reps to balance the books. The Vogel River (incorrectly named Blyde River in some reports) which is normally not more than a small stream causing flash-flooding that left several families homeless Fifty homes were damaged and a footbridge that links the two sides of the town was washed away Seven families were evacuated and given shelter in the community centre Municipal Supervisor Zola Doro said 108mm fell in less than an hour causing flash-flooding that damaged houses and infrastructure The short downpour caused the river to rise 4m (12 feet) above its normal level Emergency services from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality to assist with repairing parts of the sewerage system within the town Pearston is a town of 4 000 people situated in a normally dry part of the Karoo region of the Eastern Cape province Residents said they had never experienced anything like this but the South African Weather Service is predicting a 60% chance of further heavy rains over the Western and Eastern Cape provinces until Thursday 9 January Residents in the town of Laingsburg which is situated between Cape Town and Beaufort West in the Western Cape province but also lies in the semi-arid Karoo region had a chilling reminder of the 1981 floods that killed over 100 residents when the Buffels River again burst its banks on Tuesday 7 January 2014 The N1 national road route between Cape Town and Johannesburg was temporarily closed on Wednesday morning due to floodwaters but the bridge over the Buffels River was not washed away The road was partially opened to traffic again on Wednesday afternoon with traffic taking turns from each direction to use the single undamaged lane of the road The SA National Defence Force was placed on standby in the area Some of the town’s water pipes were damaged by floodwater leaving many homes and businesses in Laingsburg without potable water Residents of towns in the mountainous region to the southwest were not so fortunate Two women in the town of Robertson were swept away by the flooding Breede River on Tuesday 7 January 2014 They were among a group of 5 people who had taken shelter under a bridge from stormy weather Police spokesman Captain van Wyk said that the bodies had been retrieved from the river during a search for another man who had fallen into the river from the town’s Adderley Street bridge Over 110mm (4⅓ inches) fell in the area on Tuesday flooding roads in and around Robertson and nearby Ashton Ed Hill is a freelance writer and journalist but reports on flood disasters in all areas of the world for FloodList.com Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList beloved husband of Barbara Elaine Pearston He graduated from UCONN with a degree in Forestry and played basketball and baseball during his college years He moved his family to South Carolina in 1980 thankful to not have to shovel snow any longer.  After many years with Pleasant’s Contract Hardware SC to be close to his youngest daughter and grandchildren.  SC and Kimberly Joy Gorsage (John) of Lexington SC; 6 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild that he loved dearly.  Beverly Jean Rhodes (Robert) of Summerfield Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net With many events falling victim to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all monitoring the guidelines from our respective governments around the world. Our chosen is just that: a hobby. Some take it more serious than others but it’s still a hobby. As The National Piping Centre advised on Thursday there’s one of steps pipers should heed is to keep to your own instrument; do not share pipes or chanters and be aware of how you are treating reeds etc With hygiene and maintenance of our instruments on our minds just now we reproduce below a pertinent article Tommy Pearston wrote in the March 1950 Piping Times he was writing at a time when there were no synthetic materials used in piping the principles behind his article remain sound even though he’s not writing about a specific virus Tommy was a co-founder of the College of Piping He was also a Fellow of the Institute of Medical Laboratory Technology I think I might be correct in assuming that the bagpipes are an unhygenic musical instrument this can be exploded when put to the test; and I may be correct in saying that our instrument performers are about the healthiest section of the community I think the disadvantages are less than the advantages with regards to the health of the player — provided that he avoids certain points which I list The first one is probably obvious to most people It is definitely bad policy to allow other people to blow your chanter or set of pipes without taking at least some aseptic precautions The precaution I would suggest is that every piper should carry his own mouth-piece in his pocket and replace it on the set of pipes which are to be played There is a point worth mentioning about buying a second-hand set and it is that you should scrap the bag and get a new one Also wash out the wooden parts with soap and hot water Give special treatment to the drone and chanter stocks at the point where they have been tied into the bag Use mild antisepticThe re-hemping of all the joints is another precaution which applies in buying a second-hand practice chanter I would not recommend douching the parts with any strong disinfectant as they tend to remove the varnish off the wood A mild antiseptic could be tried — but in a weak solution Don’t take to drink!The story — which is worth repeating — of the Arctic settlement which had spent many months with a population free of the common cold until the arrival of a visiting whaler with an infected person aboard The virus quickly passed from one to another and soon the people on the mainland were having an epidemic In further articles I shall discuss the bacteriological aspect of the bagpipe as a medium for disease-carrying organisms but in the meantime don’t take to strong drink as an aseptic precaution Bagpiping features and news from around the international piping community Contact us: news@bagpipe.news © Bagpipe News - The National Piping Centre The Pibroch Network gathers together and makes accessible pibroch’s earliest primary sources with the means to explore them effectively It’s a network not only in terms of the comprehensive and interlinking database of repertoire and source material made ever more discoverable – it’s also a network by virtue of its many user communities able to engage with each other – pipers and access to pibroch: the single malt of Scottish music There has long been a tradition of women upholding and passing on knowledge of piping through canntaireachd.[1] Unwittingly I’ve followed in these footsteps – years ago made a comment in passing about the existence of canntaireachd Women are no longer excluded from playing the pipes and there is nothing stopping me from trying to learn to play them and am far more visually inclined in how I think and process the world Canntaireachd felt like a way of understanding and coming closer to this music; a point of entry more accessible to me as a graphic designer While undertaking a Masters degree in graphic design I became inspired to challenge this lack of ‘expressive force’ in written canntaireachd Playing with the idea that overlaying images can create new meanings the seed of an idea started to sprout: what meaning might be conveyed by screen printing a canntaireachd design onto the musical notation Visual representations of pibroch and canntaireachd took root in my imagination I learned about the existence of A Collection of Piobaireachd or Pipe Tunes as Verbally Taught by the McCrummen Pipers … by Neil MacLeod of Gesto in 1828 and as I was searching high and low for more information I came across papers by both Barnaby Brown and Josh Dickson and transcriptions of Roderick Cannon’s lectures I discovered an early attempt in 1880 when John F Campbell published Canntaireachd: Articulate Music to align the Gesto vocables with the notes of Cill Chriosda (‘Kilchrist’) on the stave Figure 1: The opening notation of ‘Kilchrist’ in John F Campbell’s Canntaireachd: Articulate Music (1880) I found myself following links to the erstwhile Alt Pibroch Club website Eventually this led to an inquisatory email to Barnaby and an initial phone call which evolved into a series of regular meetings In exchange for some graphic design for the nascent Pibroch Network Barnaby provided me with tuition in the music and history of canntaireachd and The vocables of canntaireachd captured my imagination I use canntaireachd as a means of understanding and accessing musical patterns and theory that have otherwise eluded me I look for visual ways to communicate the experience of pibroch – its ‘expressive force’ – through visual means honouring past traditions while speaking to wider audiences I wanted to create an intuitive visual language that could be applied directly to the text of canntaireachd By using the tools of a graphic designer – colour typography – to embed musical information into the text of the vocables in a more intuitive and accessible way written canntaireachd begins to stand on its own free from the constraints of staff notation Neil MacLeod of Gesto’s written form of canntaireachd is a transcription of the singing of Iain Dubh MacCrimmon prior to his death in 1822 This is very different from the written system of canntaireachd developed by Colin Campbell of Nether Lorn between 1797 and 1815 which was a system essentially innovated by a single person as graphic notation inspired by traditional chanting the vocables used in the Gesto Canntaireachd were written as MacLeod heard them His transcription has its well-known drawbacks; for example without hearing them (or already knowing a particular tune) a reader can’t discern whether ‘ho’ is a B or a C Developing principles for implementing visual variables I explored different ways of highlighting rhythms and the pitch or tonal colour of each vocable the vocables’ pitches relative  to each other are represented with the placement of the red dot but the primary focus is on the rhythm and relative length of each vocable conveyed through the size of the text and the weight of the font Figure 2: A sketch by Kate Carpenter illustrating the rhythm of the ground in Ceann na Drochaide Bige / The End of the Little Bridge By applying colour to the text, the intended pitch of each vocable is unambiguosly conveyed to the reader. I ‘hear’ the dissonant notes of pibroch as brash, reddish colours, and the more consonant notes as calm blues and greens. This in turn links back to Thomas Pearston’s 1973 table of piping notes and their associated meanings.[3] With all these influences in mind I created a system with a colour per note on the piping scale: Figure 3: The colours selected for each note alongside Thomas Pearston’s associated meanings I can express the relative length of each vocable These tools allow a performer to engage directly with the text of the canntaireachd and sing or play without needing sheet music knowledge of which vocables correspond with which finger movements is still required.) I can create an image of a whole tune with the intent to convey its overall emotion or encode this information into written text and allow someone to use canntaireachd to sing or play without needing sheet music (for playing the pipes this would still require knowledge of which vocables correspond with which finger movements) Collaborations with the Pibroch Network bore fruit in the form of an exhibition at the Arts University Bournemouth in June of 2022 Using the vocables and my system of colours and text weight I created a zoetrope – a type of Victorian animation predating film – to illustrate the changing tempo of a pibroch and visitors were able to listen to the tune being sung while watching the spinning zoetrope Figure 4: Zoetrope representation of Ceann na Drochaide Bige / The End of the Little Bridge featured in an exhibition at Arts University Bournemouth The sketches and representations of Ceann na Drochaide were initial experiements I had been studying the text of the Gesto canntaireachd and the sheet music from Roderick’s typescript for his book The Music of John MacCrimmon creating a database of vocables and their corresponding notes for each of the tunes in this collection A larger undertaking began after Barnaby commented that it would be useful to have an updated version of the Gesto canntaireachd even if the only changes were greater spacing between the lines and simple numbering of each line for ease of reference Realising I had all the information required to do so, I set myself the aim of producing a version of the Gesto canntaireachd that incorporates musical information directly into the vocables of John MacCrimmon. Through the Pibroch Network I was able to work with freelance software developer Jamie Green who kindly wrote a script so that I could quickly import and format my spreadsheets Figure 5: Mallachd nam Piobairean / The Curse of the Pipers Excerpt from Kate Carpenter’s book The Gesto Canntaireachd showing her system of embedding musical information into the vocables using colour and weight but more emotional and expressive interpretation of the Gesto canntaireachd is the second book I created for my Masters each page illustrates one of the tunes from The Gesto Canntaireachd with colour selections informed by the emotion and meaning behind the music with a track listing and liner notes on the back Figure 6: Front and back covers of Kate Carpenter’s A Visual Album of Pipe Tunes Colour selections for these tunes were limited to two each due to the printing process; the colours were selected for emotive reasons rather than for practical use Tunes with war-like or fierce themes have more red; laments have blue or mint; regal tunes use gold 8: Excerpts from Kate Carpenter’s book A Visual Album of Pipe Tunes The canntaireachd of each tune is presented in a spiral harking back to the path a piper walks as they play as well as a shape commonly found in traditional Scottish art These ‘wreaths’ of text simulate the wall of sound The form of the book enhances this blossoming of sound I returned to screen printing a wreath of canntaireachd this time working with the tune Cill Chriosda which contrasts nicely with John F Campbell’s representation of the tune in 1880 I selected colours from my colour palette (Fig 3) based on the notes present in the tune The aim was to convey the mood and feeling of the tune without requiring the piece to be an accurate or specific representation of the music behind the canntaireachd: Figure 9: Visual representation of Cill Chriosda in canntaireachd overlaid on notation All in all, the creation of this work could not have happened without the Pibroch Network – truly living up to its stated aims of welcoming both pipers and non-pipers providing a collaborative network of resources and people and supporting the traditional study of pibroch while exploring modern interpretations and revisions [1] Dickson canntaireachd and the role of tradition-bearer’ [2] Buisman ‘From chant to script: some evidences of chronology in Colin Campbell’s adaptation of canntaireachd’ [3] Pearston The article was written by Tommy Pearston and published in the December 1989 Piping Times the only piper who lost his life because he was a piper In November 2007 an event was held in York to commemorate the memory of 22 Jacobites, including Reid, executed for their part in the 1745-46 Jacobite Rising. It included a ceremony at the site of Tyburn Gallows, the place of execution. Perhaps, however, as Tommy suggests, it is time for pipers to commemorate Reid himself in an appropriate way? Send your thoughts to us at news@bagpipe.news The following is an extract from Grattan Flood’s Story of the Bagpipe “So powerful a factor was the Scotch bagpipe in working up enthusiasm for the Stuart cause that it was regarded as an instrument of war This point is amply proved by the fact that James Reid the capital offence being that as no Highland Regiment ever marched without a piper; therefore his bagpipe in the eye of the law was an instrument of war “Reid suffered death at York on November 6 as is reported in the contemporary Caledonian Mercury.” On checking this information in the National Library [in Edinburgh] it was noted that this information was given in the Caledonian Mercury of November 25 “On Saturday 15th James Reid was executed for high treason at York He was of the Shire of Angus and a private man in Lord Ogilvy’s regiment” Lord Ogilvy was only 21 years old and commanded two battalions He had held a commission in the French Army and was very popular with his men The Angus men were supposed to be the best equipped and according to some accounts the best disciplined in the Prince’s army They kept the retreating right wing at Culloden from being cut to pieces Lord Ogilvy escaped to France via Norway and became a general in the French army In the three volumes of Prisoners of The ’45 by Sir Bruce Seton and Jean Gordon Arnot (published in 1929) there are several hundred names of soldiers of Prince Charles Edward Piper in Lord George Murray’s regiment Piper in Glenbucket’s regiment; acquitted October 1746 Piper in the Duke of Perth’s regiment; captured at Carlisle and transported Allan MacDougall of Duke of Atholl’s and Lord Nairn’s regiments; served as a blind Highland piper and was taken at Falkirk What a blind man could do in an army had only one reason He must have been an exceptionally talented and well known piper Could this have been Blind MacDougall mentioned in Angus MacKay’s MS His name is associated with the following tunes: The King’s Taxes the Nameless tune (Book 4 of the Piobaireachd Society Collection (three Nameless tunes are shown but which one is MacDougalls is not clear) The Duke of Perth’s Lament and Lachlan MacNeill of Kintarbert Angus MacKay states that this MacDougall is Ronald MacDougall and it is not likely that there are two blind MacDougalls It could be reasonable to assume that this blind MacDougall piper is the same man It was pointed out at his trial at York on 2nd Oct but he was found guilty but recommended to mercy The Court ruled that ‘no regiment ever marched without musical instruments such as drums trumpets and the like; and that a Highland regiment never marched without a piper; and therefore his bagpipe Also listed were several drummers and fiddlers states that Charles Edward had 32 pipers playing before his tent at meal times The relevant papers a decisions about hanging Reid have been checked up in the [National] Library in Edinburgh and in London and I have yet to find any government decision to hang rebel pipers James Reid was not the only piper – he was just the unlucky one as the rest got off or were transported It would appear that the decision to hang Reid was made by the court at York in isolation and not under any official directive There is little record of pipers being harassed or hanged for playing the pipes after the ’45 and we know that Joseph MacDonald compiled his Compleat Theory of the Scots Highland Bagpipe in 1760 It would be reasonable to assume that piping did not suffer unduly James Reid must be unique in piping history as the only one who lost his life because he was a piper In the collections of the Piobaireachd Society there are 18 pieces of ceòl mòr called Nameless Is it not within our power to call one of these tunes 1746 could perhaps be remembered by us all Thanks are expressed to the Black Watch museum in Perth for help in the investigation of the story of James Reid: who appeared to be Deferter from one of our Regiments: He alledged that he had the Promife of his Royal Highnefs the Duke of Cumberland for his Pardon – Guilty whom the Witneffes for the Crown plainly proved to have engaged with the Rebels and to have acted as a Piper to a Rebel Regiment tho’ it did not appear that he had ever carried any Arms; upon which he was recommended to Mercy by the Jury that every Perfon who joined any Set of People engaged in an open Rebellion they were guilty of High Treafon; that no Regiments ever marched without Mufical Inftruments or the like; and that in an Highland Regiment there was no Moving without a Piper The Jury upon this would have retracted their Recommendation James Main was firft brought to the Bar; but his Counfel moving for farther Time upon Account of fome of his Witneffes being on the Road “Then John Long was brought upon his Trial and fix Witneffes were examined for the Crown to prove that he had acted as a Surgeon’s mate in the Rebel Army; but the Proof not coming up to the Species of High Treafon laid in the Indictment he was acquitted on the Motion of the King’s Counfel and was proved by four Witneffes to have appeared in Arms at feveral Places: He did not attempt to contradict this in his Defence but examined fome Witneffes to fhew that his Cafe was the fame with Charles Robinfon’s — Guilty.” I’d like to communicate a very pleasurable experience I had recently which took me nearer the heart of the spirit of piobaireachd than anything so far to date I was at the College [of Piping] for a couple of days’ tuition under Duncan Johnstone (my On Thursday evenings there is a pipe tuition class run by Kenny MacLean which has acquired a reputation for being a damn good social affair as well as excellent for teaching After we duffers have clicked our way through our studies out come the pipes and — over a few glassfuls — pipers take it in turn to entertain the rest Kenny played a couple of marches and lost his way several times through The King’s Taxes I felt wonderfully elevated listening to top rank piping I cannot hear it in Manchester and there is no doubt that this is a distinct handicap There is a charisma about piping and unless you can keep in touch with it I think one would always play indifferently I rejoiced in every movement he played well and sympathised when it wasn’t I can see MacCrimmon in my mind’s eye once in a while saying “D… it” and spitting at the dog But that wasn’t the experience I am talking about Pearston was there but he couldn’t be badgered into playing that particular night The atmosphere was pretty lively and we all got merrier as time went by If I have it wrong perhaps he will forgive me I don’t know him as a renowned player and the point is it doesn’t matter that he isn’t Indeed there was nothing distinguished about his playing technically but the devil must have got into his fingers that night because he excelled himself in musicianship which happens to be high on my list of favourites except one or two fierce and almost inappropriate high Gs (at the end of each doubling variation) everyone in the room began to pay attention The pipes were sweet and the notes flowed like balm The air began to tingle and vibrate with the thrill of it As if by common consent there began a low humming accompaniment from the listeners which gradually swelled in intensity and passion urging on the piper and sending shivers down my spine For the first time the connection between piobaireachd and plainsong chanting became vividly obvious and I felt I had already learned something of great value The beauty of it got stronger and stronger and as I looked around the room I noticed most eyes were closed and faces were showing a rapt expression of enjoyment and every sign of being transported This was confirmed when he went wrong in one variation It stopped the flow of melody and everyone bumped down to earth with a start But then he got back to it in the next variation and everyone nodded off to happy land again The unique feeling of the power of the chanting and the pipes is inexpressible but I can say unhesitatingly that it was one of the best musical experiences I have ever had The point I would like to make from all this is that musicianship is a quality distinct from playing ability (Of course the better your technique the better you can convey the music you want to play.) I was very moved that night and the excitement died away slowly Something to do with the very nature of music got stirred up and my exposure to it was a little awesome I do admit I have been keen on music all my life and played in bands and an orchestra but it has taken the pipes and piobaireachd in particular to bring me this reward For those of you who are entirely familiar with these feelings I do not wish to appear to be talking down and there are many pipers who have never been that near to the heart of piobaireachd • First published in the May 1977 edition of the Piping Times is a confirmation of the rise in pitch over the past 50 years Chanter A is a chanter from the First World War B is about the early 1940s and C is a modern chanter as played to-day D is a pre-war [the second – Editor] half-sized chanter chanters A and B were sharp on the top hand Chanters C and D were much closer in pitch and loudness The late Pipe Major Willie Gray was the first to bring attention to pipers that the pipe chanter was becoming like a half sized chanter the modern pipe chanter is high pitched and universally made so by most bagpipe makers Perhaps with more indoor playing than ever before and the fact that the most important bagpipe competitions are held indoors the decrease in volume and rise in pitch has crept up on us Rise in pitch has been occurring in other instruments and even among singers themselves it states that the bagpipe is now essentially the same instrument that it was in the beginning of the 17th century I do not think this can be held to be correct The higher pitched chanter would have been rejected by all the old masters In essence the core sound of the pipe is the pipe chanter and like the rest of the instrument and the music itself has come to us out of the mist but I believe that whoever invented ceòl mòr invented the pipe chanter be the vehicle to produce ceòl mòr that it was the higher pitched chanter may be pleasing the bagpipe makers the players and the listeners but what would the old masters have said about this I believe they would have said that the art of piping has changed dramatically; the loudness has changed and the performance of the embellishments so that the instrument has become more suitable for a dance band If the old masters had wished to play on a high pitched instrument there was nothing to keep them back except their ear If the music goes in tandem with the instrument then the balance has been changed for the first time in hundreds of years We still have in our memory the great bagpipes of Willie Ross and Robert Reid and even a few months ago we heard an old record of Red Hector of The Battles by Roderick MacDonald which to me gave a much truer sound than that of the modern bagpipe The common fault of the pre-war chanters were sharp high G’s and D’s and flattish bottom hand but the modern chanter has also problems advised lowering the pitch of the pipe chanter for the MacNeill Pipe Band and this caused a minor sensation by the new sound that was produced Perhaps we should have another look at the modern chanter with the help of more scientific instruments and seek more satisfactory answers than we have at present Perhaps an investment for research of £25,000 would give us some answers After Stuart Letford’s recent article on the 1921 Census appeared readers have contacted us to point out that the year was the birth of quite a few individuals who would go on to become notable names in piping In the words of The Who song (from the album Tommy): “Got a feeling ’21 is going to be a good year …” It certainly was for piping Thanks also to Seán Donnelly who pointed out that the Irish War of Independence ended in 1921 The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in December that year Readers have also contacted us regarding Mr Letford’s blog last week Mr Letford asked if readers could confirm whether the word ‘barluath’ was indeed included by Edward Dwelly in his Gaelic dictionary Quite a number of you contacted us to say that it was indeed included Many of you also pointed out that Joseph MacDonald included the word in his Compleat Theory … but that it most certainly has no relation to the birl movement Joseph’s “Barludh” is a somewhat monstrous movement: That’s certainly not something to be attempted until after one has had his/her daily porridge!  Calum goes on to say: “Dwelly’s coverage of piping terms is a bit eccentric. His entry for bàrluath reads: Portion of pipe-music in ‘ceòl mór’ which precedes the taorluath but only in those of the ‘Moladh Màiri’ type. There is also a great deal of detail under the canntaireachd entry and it’s difficult to know how seriously to take it.  I think he may have had to take advice from people who were not necessarily as expert as perhaps they thought they were.” was the first to introduce the modern hiharin timing – assuming The double tap of the pinkie is a common feature in light music at least from Donald MacDonald’s time – see his book of 1828 It could well be that the modern style involving a compound movement was invented or evolved during the latter half of the 19th century during which time Highland Games became established around Scotland it’s interesting the fiddlers start using it around the same time though in a slightly different but related sense It certainly seems the case that there is no direct Gaelic equivalent for the birl … yet ceòl mòr derives entirely from Gaelic culture Likewise Joseph MacDonald probably came into contact with the Irish harper Echlin O’Cathain while they were both in Argyll “What once struck me while going through the early military pension records looking for pipers was the number of soldiers in Scottish regiments who had been born in Ireland but had solid Scottish names The penny dropped when I realised that these were soldiers following into their father’s regiments but born while those regiments were stationed in Ireland.” Organisers of the piping aspect to this June’s commemoration of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee say that pipe bands who register their participation will be entered into a draw to win £500 Five or more members of each band are needed in order for them to be entered into the draw Video footage of the band playing Stuart Liddell’s tune composed for the occasion Villages-News.com left this earth and joined her husband of 57 years Beverly graduated Farmington High School and AI Prince Technical School with an LPN certificate She worked at Manchester Hospital as a staff nurse for years but mostly dedicated herself to being a mother and a wife Beverly became an avid golfer later in life and she and Bob relocated to Florida upon his retirement to pursue the game she also leaves her brother James (Barbara) Pearston and sisters Carey Harrington and Patricia (David) Miller Beverly’s legacy in this world are her three loving children Joelle (Frank) Lapsley and Michael (Tina) Rhodes She was also a very proud grandmother of Declan and Gage Lapsley; Kyle Beverly suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for many years which forced her to give up many of the activities she loved She was blessed with a patient and loving caregiver in her husband Bob who devoted the entire second half of his life to her Her children are so thankful for their father and to the neighbors who helped Bob and Bev over the years the family asks for a tribute gift donation to be made to Parkinson’s research at the Parkinson’s Foundation in her name A private service will be held at a later date at the convenience of the family A stop to help a disabled vehicle ended with an SUV crashing into a downtown Des Moines business on Friday evening Three people were injured and multiple cars were damaged after an Iowa State Patrol trooper stopped to assist a disabled vehicle on Second Avenue near the Iowa State Patrol District 1 office on the north side of Des Moines the occupants got into their Ford Escape and took off "It's not something you see every day," Pearston said "Pretty interesting how that works with a good deed that a trooper tried to help somebody and ended up in a pretty chaotic Pearston said several vehicles were hit as the chase headed south and into downtown The driver lost control on Center Street between Third and Second Avenue going over a concrete wall and crashing onto a deck in front of the Des Moines Education Association building at 206 Center St Pearston said he did not know the extent of the three injuries He noted that workers inside the building were startled Names were not available and no arrests had been made at the scene SIXTEEN children and their teacher were mercilessly shot dead in their school gym in Scotland 25 years ago as they took part in a PE lesson The Dunblane massacre prompted a massive campaign - called Snowdrop - to tighten the UK's gun laws The Snowdrop campaign was launched in the days following the tragedy in Dunblane on March 13 The campaign to ban private ownership of handguns took its name from the only spring flower in bloom at the time of the mass shooting The leaders of the action organised a petition of more than 750,000 signatures They also joined forces with the London-based group which was launched after the Hungerford massacre in 1987 The successful campaign forced the government to pass the Firearm (Amendment) Act in 1997 It banned handguns above .22 calibre and restricted smaller calibre weapons to secure gun clubs some 160,000 handguns were surrendered to the cops and the Snowdrop campaign disbanded The founder of the Snowdrop campaign launched the action after discovering the mass shooting had been carried out using a legally-held handgun The campaign called for a ban on the private ownership of handguns the campaigners released a poster featuring a blackboard with "ban all handguns" written in chalk in a child's handwriting Snowdrop started from behind an old decorator's table in Stirling, according to the Independent. In the days following the killing of the children, Ann Pearston, Jacqueline Walsh and Rosemary Hunter urged people to sign a petition calling for a ban on the private ownership of handguns. Pearston later described it as one of the most successful campaigns ever seen in the UK. Pearston did not lose anyone in the tragedy, but she said she launched the petition because she had lived in the city for 18 months. Dr Mick North, a university lecturer who lost his five-year-old daughter Sophie in the shooting, was also one of the leaders of the campaign. The Dunblane Massacre remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history. On March 13, 1996, a gunman broke into a primary school in the small Scottish town of Dunblane and killed 16 young children and their teacher before turning the gun on himself. The murderer was named as Thomas Hamilton, a resident of the small town. On the day of the killings, he drove into the car park at 9.30am and proceeded to cut cables on a telephone pole. He then entered the school carrying four handguns and 743 rounds of ammunition. Hamilton entered the school gym, where Year 1 students had just arrived for a PE class with their teacher Gwen Mayor. He immediately opened fire, killing Mayor instantly and wounding two other teachers who were present in the gym. While most children were dragged into a store cupboard for safety by their teachers, Hamilton fired 16 shots at point-blank range at a group of children who had been injured by his previous shots. Of them, 15 died instantly, while one child died later en route to the hospital. Hamilton briefly left the gym, but continued firing shots towards the library and a mobile classroom. before dropping the gun he had been using and choosing another one The entire attack lasted no more than five minutes Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click here.