Piping competition cancels for first time

The Lewis and Harris Piping Society had arranged for the competition, originally due to have been held in Stornoway on April 3, to instead take place in The Piping Centre, Glasgow on November 27 – before only the judges, with social distancing in place.

However, the city is affected by level three restrictions under the new lockdown system, which means that nobody should travel into or outside the area for non-essential purposes.

Under the travel ban, many of the pipers due to compete in the Donald Macleod competition would have been prevented from travelling into Glasgow for the event.

Dr John Smith, chairman of the Lewis and Harris Piping Society, said: “The Lewis and Harris Piping Society have reluctantly decided that, due to the current restrictions on travel in the central belt, the proposed virtual Donald Macleod Memorial Piping Competition 2020 has to be cancelled.

“Due to the increasing incidence of Covid 19 in the country, particularly in the central belt, this decision was inevitable. We are disappointed, as the competition would have maintained its continuity, which had been unbroken for the past 27 years.

“We are very hopeful that, come next April, the world will have resumed a degree of normality to enable us to resume the competition in Stornoway, its home town, for everyone to enjoy.”

The eight pipers who would have been taking part this year were Willie McCallum, Gordon McCready, Sarah Muir, Connor Sinclair, Iain Speirs, Stuart Liddell, Angus MacColl and Niall Stewart.