The annual teaching weekend at Melrose, organised by Rona Macdonald on behalf of the LBPS committee, was fully subscribed, with twenty-one attendees.

The three tutors (Alan Macdonald, Gary West and Jock Agnew) each looked at different aspects of piping:- exploring the links between playing piobaireachd and the Gaelic song tradition: developing a “style”: and Border tunes including an afternoon entirely on Border pipes. Hamish Moore and Julian Goodacre were available to look at pipe maintenance prob- lems, and on the Sunday afternoon Anita Evans gave a demonstration of reed-making.

Although the weekend was structured, those attending could move between tutors, and even leave the semi-formal teaching sessions altogether if they felt the need for, say, some basic individual tuition on bellows control.

The George and Abbotsford hotel provided ideal accommodation and playing facilities, and their non-piping guests contrived not to look surprised at all the unconventional activity.

The Saturday evening dinner was crowned by Ian Murray providing some wonderful remi- niscences of piping during his life-time, which he illustrated with clips from various CDs and other recordings.