Piping Competitions Homepage

May 2008 - Message from Piping Steward

First, an apology that it has taken so long to get the website back into working order. It took quite a long time to construct in the first place and has been no less time-consuming to rebuild. Thank you all for being so patient.

Competitors who have been ‘ruled eligible’ are shown here and can now Enter by submitting their tunes. Your NEW LOGIN DETAILS AND PASSWORD HAVE BEEN EMAILED TO YOU. These bulk mailings can end up in a junk mailbox so please check this if you have not received an email from us. I will assume that anyone who has not entered tunes by the end of June is not intending to compete (and where applicable give their place away to a Reserve piper). Tunes can be changed on the website right up until the week before the competitions.

The rules will be the same as for 2007, in terms of entry criteria, jackets etc. The venues shall also be the same for the piobaireachd competitions but on the Games field there will be a number of changes, first, to try and ensure that piping is not co-located next to the starting pistol and secondly to run a sixth platform throughout the day for the Local Competitions, which historically have taken place before the games get fully underway. My apologies if this confuses some of the old hands.

For the piobaireachd competitions therefore the venues are as follows:

- Senior Piobaireachd: Main hall at the Corran Halls, starting at 09.30am
- Gold Medal: Theatre at the Corran Halls, starting at 09.00am
- Silver Medal: Downstairs function room in the Great Western Hotel, starting at 09.00am
- MacGregor Memorial: Regent Hotel starting at 09.00am
- Former Winners MSR:Main hall at Corran Halls, starting at 5.30pm

Entry fees will be collected on the day when you register for your first competition. Anyone failing to pay on arrival will not be eligible to compete and even if they have been allowed to by the stewards on the day prior to payment, may find themselves disqualified.

The playing order will be made available once all competitors have submitted their tunes via the website, as this is the check that allows me to see whether all those who registered and were accepted still intend to compete.

Please note that The Argyllshire Gathering reserves the right to disqualify any piper, other than pipers who compete in the Former Winners MSR, who does not present themselves for the march to the Games field from competing the following year. The CPA are aware of the frustration that lack of attendance causes in forming this very unique pipe band but no amount of exhortation seems to be restoring the numbers to those of previous years."

Finally, it is my intention that judges are available to hand out critique sheets and discuss performances at the end of the first day, as happened last year. Again this will take place in the Corran Halls as it is the central place: it is not ideal as the space is limited but judges are happy to use that moment to provide their outline comments and if a piper wishes a more detailed or private conversation to arrange that separately.

If you have any problems with the website and entering, please contact If you have any other queries please contact me on We both work away from home quite a lot but will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.

Jamie Fraser
Piping Steward

The Registration timetable in a normal year is:

When	What
November	Registration process for subsequent year opens.
November to end January	Competitors register for each competition that they wish to be considered for. A full track record and referees are necessary, particularly if you have not competed before.
February	Joint Committee of Argyllshire Gathering / Northern Meeting meet to decide who is eligible to compete in that year’s Oban and Inverness Competitions. The committee comprises representatives of the two organisations, plus up to four Senior judges and representatives from the CPA. Consideration is given to recent track record, CPA grading, relative ability to peer group, any other information. Being selected one year may not mean that you are selected the next, given that each year the numbers of registrations increases and there are many good players around.
March	Competitors are notified of the competitions they have been ruled eligible for www.obangames.com allows individuals tune entries from that date.
April- 1st August	Tune changes can be made on-line.
August	Playing order visible on-line.