Testimonials

The Strathmore Schools Pipe Band is incredibly grateful to the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust for their generous support. Your support has had an incredible impact. Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to provide after-school tuition to our young musicians, ensuring they receive high-quality instruction and opportunities to develop their skills.

This additional tuition has made a huge difference — allowing pupils to progress faster, gain confidence, and work together as a band outside of their regular school lessons. The dedication and enthusiasm of our young
people have been truly inspiring, and we were absolutely thrilled to see their hard work pay off when we recently placed 3rd in the Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships!

Your support has not only helped cover tuition costs but has also given our pupils a sense of pride, teamwork, and achievement that will stay with them for years to come. Thank you for believing in them and in the
power of this project.

Our pipe band project provides free music tuition to over 150 pupils across Blairgowrie and the surrounding rural areas, ensuring that young people have access to high-quality musical education regardless of their background. The Trust’s support has been instrumental in helping us continue this mission, and we deeply appreciate your commitment to nurturing the next generation of musicians.

We are incredibly grateful and look forward to keeping you updated on their continued success!

The year 2024 has been eventful and challenging for me in my aspiring career. I would like to thank ‘The Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust’ for their continued support with my piping.

This year I have progressed to my final year at ‘The Royal Conservatoire’ in Glasgow. B Mus (Traditional Music-piping) degree.

I am also continuing to take lessons from my long term tutor, Willie Morrison.

This year in competition I was successful in winning many prizes. The pinnacle was winning the ‘Pipe Idol’ competition in the ‘Piping Centre’, Glasgow, in August.

DB Trad Group provides free tuition in Scottish traditional music to young persons in our area as well as the opportunity to be part of a band performing live regularly throughout each year. We have received lovely support from the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust from the beginning of our project. The funding we have been very lucky to receive towards our running costs makes all the difference, and means we can keep music free for our young musicians who love playing and being part of the group.

The Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust have been outstanding in their support for piping and drumming, and have been cornerstones of our organisation since its inception. This year we were very grateful to receive funding towards venue hire costs – without this we would not be able to teach the young people of East Ayrshire. Our young people are receiving first class tuition, support and opportunities they would not get if not for our service.

Thank you so much to all members of the GDMT for changing the lives of our young people.

The Inaugural Gordon Duncan Memorial Kitchen Piping Competition was held on 13 July 2024 at the 28th annual Skagit Valley Highland Games at the Skagit County Fairgrounds. Sixteen Open, Grade 1 and Grade 2 pipers competed. The Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust, the Celtic Arts Foundation and The British Columbia Piper’s Association sponsored the event.  The judges were Callum Beaumont and our Vice Chair, Gary West.

1st Craig Sutherland, Perth
2nd Zephan Knichel, Surrey, British Columbia
3rd Cameron Bonar, Surrey, British Columbia
4th Alastair Lee, Surrey, British Columbia
5th Aaron Stone, Monroe, Washington
6th Micah Babinski, Portland, Oregon

A video of the event, including an introduction from Gary West, is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93QpJUOtsZA.

“Kitchen piping” is a name made up by the late Scott MacAulay in the 1980s to describe fun, fast and creative Highland piping often played in the kitchen at house parties.