When the LBPS chairman Hamish Moore first circulated his ideas for this year's collogue it was clear that this was going to be an exceptional event. The 50 or so who packed the Edinburgh roomsa of the Royal Scottish Pipers' Society, [a venue with pipe music, as Mike Katz put it, 'absorbed into the walls’] were not disappointed.

Hamish had taken for a theme the matter of playing pipes with other instruments, a choice which naturally enough led to performances by way of demonstrating the variety of approaches.
After a brief welcome Hamish introduced Will Lamb, who gave us an introduction to the bouzouki, and outlined the pleasures and challenges of playing it to accompany pipers. Fin Moore joined him to demonstrate some of his points.
 Later in the morning we were greatly entertained by the inimitable Mike Katz talking about accompanying singers, including an impromptu song inspired by a newspaper article.
The day was not entirely taken up with Hamish's theme however. David Taylor gave a stimulating talk about tradition and the re-emergence of the border pipes, a talk which concluded with some challenging comments on the Society's failings and an extensive proposal for ways in which they might be overcome. Transcriptions of all these talks are included in this issue. They have been kept more or less as spoken, in the hopes of preserving something of the flavour of the speakers.
Alongside these talks we were also entertained with stories about pipers from David Campbell and Linda Williamson, two of Scotland's leading story-tellers, an innovation for this event.
The afternoon was largely taken up with performances by five different pipers each playing with a different fiddler. Hamish Moore introduced himself and his daughter Fiona as ‘the warm-up act’. They were followed by Callum Armstrong with Pete Stewart on fiddle, with Callum once again demonstrating the smallpipes' ability to expand into upper octaves in a stirring performance of a William  Dixon tune in thoroughly modern mode, as well as the polyphonic capabilities of the double chanter.
We then had stunning performances from Finlay MacDonald with Shetland fiddler Chris Stout, Mike Katz with the Tannahill Weaver’s fiddler John Martin, and finally Fin Moore with Sarah Hoy. The cover photo reveals some of the participants who took part in a grand finale.
This afternoon would have made a first-class concert by itself,  one which amply demonstrated the wide variety of approaches to piping and fiddle duos.
The day was rounded of with survivors retiring to the Oxford Bar for a wee session. Altogether  a thoroughly memorable day.

Mike Katz and John Martin

 Chris Stout and Finlay MacDonald

David Campbell tells a story

 Will, Fin and Mike listen to david talyor's talk

 Callum Armstrong and Pete Stewart