About to enter its first season at Grade 1 in pipe band competition, the Inveraray & District Pipe Band (IDPB) is playing with fellow Grade 1 band, the Vale of Atholl in the piping concert at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall at 12.30pm on 16th January. The piping concert is an annual feature of the Celtic Connections programme.
IDPB also made a significant mark in the annual New Years Honours Awards made by the prestigious international Pipe & Drums website. Its awards see 20 pipers and drummers, drawn from across the piping world, judge the various award categories.
IDPB’s Pipe Major, Stuart Liddell, already world champion solo piper by winning The Glenfiddich, was made Piper of the Year and Solo Competition Piper of the Year. Campbeltown-born Willie McCallum was one of the six considered for the award of Solo Competition Piper of the Year.
Pipe Band of the Year was Inveraray & District, gathering 50 % of the judges votes in a field where the other pipe bands under consideration were Field Marshall Montgomery, Simon Fraser University, St Laurence O’Toole and Strathclyde Police.
The citation for Stuart Liddell as Piper of the Year said: ‘It’s hard to imagine a better year for any piper than Stuart Liddell had in 2009. As Pipe-Major of the undefeated Grade 2 Inveraray & District, leading the band into Grade 1, his nurturing of the talent in the band since its inception only six years ago, his solo wins of the Clasp, the Bratach Gorm and the Open Piobaireachd at London, and the Glenfiddich Championship, Liddell was a near-unanimous winner in the category, receiving all but one of the votes’.
The citation for IDPB as Pipe Band of the year, said: ‘The first non-Grade 1 band ever to gain the award, Inveraray’s run of success was the year’s major discussion topic throughout the year, as the six-year-old band was catapulted into Grade 1 under the leadership of Stuart Liddell and Lead-Drummer Steven McWhirter. The band’s competitive success is matched only by its community spirit and drive to learn – and have fun all along the way’.
Some of the individual comments made by the judges make heartwarming reading for Argyll:
- ‘They lived up to all of the hubbub we heard about them from across the ocean. Wow, wow, wow!’
- ‘A no-brainer even though SFU were outstanding!’
- ‘This band’s rise through the ranks is unprecedented. Especially considering the fact that the large majority of its members are under the age of 20 and are from Inveraray and the surrounding area.’
- ‘Hard to choose between SFU and Inveraray, but I’m going with the ‘wow’ factor . . . this band’s performance level and five wins in the majors edged out another great World’s win by SFU, at least for me.’
Great news for the most successful of Argyll & Bute’s many pipe bands. Piping and Drumming is on a huge high across the county and the most encouraging aspect is the activity going on in the schools and among young folk.
The Inveraray band are a huge credit not just to themselves but to the huge support that they derive from their community and the leadership of Stuart Liddell and Steven McWhirter.
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