I seem tae remember someone coming on this board a while back saying he wiz gonna start this mythical society.I also read the same in the An Piobaire.
So with a mind to helping the wee soul oot I foned him twice and left a message.ye can imagine my puzzlement when I heard nowt, nil, zilch back frae whoever this mystery person wiz.
I started the Glasgow Uilleann Pipers Club a good few years back
The only regular attendee was oor Big Davey and a couple of then beginners on the pipes who have gone on to better things.Joe , Sheila, Danny .Then the thing went quite as they went their own way as is the nature of life.
But at least they came.
Yoors in peace Uilliam
PS if anyone wants tae buy the Regents Park print and help lepers recover then contact me.
Yep you are right Boyd I hope he isnae ill or worse..
Anyways I thought it was a good idea.You were welcome to the limited help I could give ye re the sesh…The Guys you were referring to were Mark drums and Eddie on fiddle…and nnoooo I have not been to the Lismore for at least 10years!! But I suppose that counts as dropping in occasionally as they .said…
My girls were all at the JLS concert so I had a couple of spare hours.
I was just tooting my flute, no pipes with me (as we were en route to Ireland)
Nearly didn’t find the place. I got to Trongate on foot before I worked out that there is another bit of Argyle Street that is out to the West.
Then I had to walk back past my hotel and a long way out to where are the traddy pubs are.
More of a hike than a night out.
I had to give a presentation in Durham yesterday so haven’t had much time to play around with the chanter. I’m hoping to get more of a crack at it this week.
As far as the piper’s meeting things go, the fella who tried to organise it found it to be a bit too much like herding cats and is busy with uni and other such things.
My feeling is that there aren’t enough uilleann pipers in Glasgow who are interested in these types of meetings to go regularly and sustain it. If you only have four or five people who are interested and you have weeks where two or three can’t make it, you’re down to two. Might as well go to the pub. Really, you need a big cohort of learners and if there is that here, I for one don’t know about it.
Boyd, if you organise a wee gathering up your way, I’d be far more interested as I could go climbing/hiking in the Cairngorms as well.
I always find it interesting there are not more workshop type events going along with Celtic Connections (the ones Ive seen advertised are always beginner type things)
Or Piping Live
Or perhaps there are and I just havent noticed them.
y’know something… you might just be onto a good idea there.
If there was a big name uillean piper performing at Celtic Connections, we could have a get-together during the day.
The best tionoil we had around 1999-2002 were open house affairs, no lessons as such, people turned up and blethered, compared sets and met characters, there were a few tunes from the better players and then a few drinks.
So during Celtic Connections we could do that sorta thing then all head to see Liam Og, or Paddy K or whoever it is.
It just might be a winning formula?
Repeatable in August if they are getting a “name” in uilleann piping at the Glasgow Piping festival.
…just a thought
venue and organiser needed, of course.
Low or zero cost ideally, but I seem to remember Uilliam telling me years ago that in Glasgae
(that’s where he lives…its near Glasgow!!)
“ye canny git sumthin fer nithin”
Having been to a couple of the excellent gatherings organised by Boyd in the past up in Grantown, a day on the same lines in Glasgow alongside Celtic Connections and/or Piping Live sounds a very workable idea. I’d certainly be keen to be there. The first one of Boyd’s mini Tionols attracted only only two of us, both at a very early stage on the pipes, but we had a great deal of very useful teaching from Boyd and a mini concert for just the two of us in the kitchen of the Grantown YMCA from Jarlath Henderson who was the star piper for the evening concert!
Great idea and would be happy to help out.
The same format might also work in Edinburgh and attract folk up from Newcastle as well.
I’m not surprised there aren’t more workshop type things at Celtic Connections. It’s not a festival for plebs like us to play tunes, like Girvan or others might be, but rather one for the gliterati, often with tenuous “Celtic” connections indeed, to pay gigs.
If I were around, I’d go to a gathering but my presence at these things is usually dependent on conditions in the hills.
and a long way out to where are the traddy pubs are.
