Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Argyll piper makes history with record eighth win at Glenfiddich Championships

Willie McCallum has won the competition more times than anyone else. Image: Innes and Campbell Communications.
Willie McCallum has won the competition more times than anyone else. Image: Innes and Campbell Communications.

A piper from Argyll has made history with a record eighth win at the Glenfiddich Piping Championships.

Willie McCallum, from Campbeltown, now holds the record of having the most overall wins ever.

He defeated nine of the world’s greatest solo players at the renowned 49th annual competition on Friday, October 28.

The competition played out in front of a live audience in Blair Castle’s Victorian ballroom and hundreds from around the world also watched the spectacle online.

Competitors travelled from across Scotland as well as from Canada, London and the USA.

Image: Innes and Campbell Communications.

‘The pinnacle of solo piping’

Mr McCallum said: “It’s such an honour to be taking home the Glenfiddich trophy. It was a fierce competition and everyone played their absolute best so it means a lot to have been named as the overall winner.”

The National Piping Centre’s director of piping, Finlay MacDonald, said: “This is the pinnacle of solo piping competitions and all of this year’s competitors upheld their reputations as the best in the world.

“They all should all be extremely proud of themselves, it was incredible to watch them all perform in this magnificent venue.”

Callum Beaumont was crowned overall runner-up and the Piobaireachd winner.

Fred Morrison was third overall.

Callum Beumont was the overall runner-up and the Piobaireachd winner. Image: Innes and Campbell Communications.

The Glenfiddich Piping Championship was established in 1974 to inspire the world’s finest exponents of Ceòl Mòr or Piobaireachd (the great music) and Ceòl Beag or light music (the little music).

It is run by The National Piping Centre, the world centre for excellence in bagpipe music.

The competition was topped off with a celebratory Pipers’ Ceilidh at the Atholl Palace Hotel in Pitlochry.

Conversation