Testimonials

A huge thank you to the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust for supporting and funding our second annual Gordon Duncan Memorial Kitchen Piping Competition at the Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mount Vernon, Washington State. Available to pipers competing at the Open/Professional, Grade 1, and Grade 2 levels, the contest calls for a five-minute max “anything-goes freestyle” selection, that include at least one composition by the great Gordon Duncan. For the second year in a row, we have been able to cover professional filming of the competition so folks around the world can enjoy the event and celebrate the music.

The Trust attended the 2004 National Piping Centre Charity Ball, which brought together like-minded individuals, organisations and businesses to help support NPC’s charitable work providing platforms for people of all abilities and ages to play bagpipes, hear bagpipes and be part of our community.

Founded in 1996, the National Piping Centre is at the epicentre of today’s dynamic piping tradition, a cultural hub for traditional music in the heart of Glasgow. Their many and varied projects and programmes are motivated by a desire to celebrate, preserve and advance the art and music of piping.

On behalf of the Lowland and Borders Pipers’ Society, I extend our sincerest gratitude for the GDMT’s generous sponsorship of our recent Collogue weekend in Dunkeld. Your support was instrumental in making the event a resounding success, and we are thrilled to share some of the positive impacts your contribution helped us achieve.

This event brought together a remarkable array of performing musicians, ranging from Jeremy Kingsbury from Minnesota, USA and Chritian Tewordt from Germany to Finlay McDonald (Director of the Piping Centre) and Fionnlagh Mac a’Phiocair, as well as many up-and-coming highly talented youngsters and some outstanding local musicians. Mixed with the informed and valuable speakers, this created a unique and vibrant atmosphere, exposing our audience to a diverse and eclectic brand of music that they might not otherwise have had the opportunity to experience and quality research they might otherwise never have heard about. Those who attended pointed out the friendly, laid back nature to the entire weekend as well, something which can be too often lacking in events such as this.

The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive, with many attendees expressing their delight at the variety and quality of the performances and presentations. Those who presented and performed have all commented that they felt well looked after and have stated freely and openly they would be willing to support our movement again. This is to a great extent thanks to the fact we had such valuable support in the form of sponsorship. The icing on the cake was the unrehearsed ‘musical stramash’ tribute to Gordon Duncan which followed on from a short speech delivered by Angus Clarke of the GDMT. There were many moments to cherish during the entire weekend and this was certainly one of them. As was young Lennox Munro’s short set which included five of Gordon’s compositions played superbly.

It was particularly heartwarming to have local youngsters performing during the event. Your sponsorship not only provided them with a wonderful platform to showcase their talents and share a stage with the some of the leading names in the wider piping world, but also enabled us to provide them with direct financial support. This contribution will greatly assist them in their ongoing musical education and development, ensuring that the next generation of musicians continues to flourish.

Further, by including a large event that was free – the recital in Dunkeld Cathedral – we were able to attract a wide range of attendees (many of them local), including those who might normally find such events to be beyond their financial means, and those who were hooked by our advertising and turned up to explore. This inclusive approach not only enriched the cultural fabric of our community but also provided a welcome boost to local businesses. All in all around 200 people participated and spent extra money in the village as a result of their time there.

Your commitment to supporting our modest LBPS community of a fairly niche piping tradition is deeply appreciated and has made a very real difference to our movement. We are deeply grateful for your partnership. It is through the generosity of sponsors like you that we are able to continue our work and make a meaningful difference to the cultural diversity of Scotland.

Thank you once again for your invaluable support.

I want to express my thanks to the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust for their generous funding. Your support allowed me to produce CDs of my album Strathbrann, and having my music in this format means a lot to me. I truly appreciate your commitment to supporting artists like myself and helping us share our passion with a wider audience. Thank you for making this possible!

Sydney has had a very successful year on the solo and pipe band scene. He also achieved his ambition by being accepted as a piper for the senior band of The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland.

Your award last year has helped Sydney continue with his lessons with Dan Nevans who without doubt has been instrumental in his tuition . This has led to Sydney gaining confidence in his solo piping and pipe band playing ( where he has gained many prizes ) and is now a leading player in his pipe band.

Gaining entry to the youth pipe band has been an ambition of Sydney’s from a very young age , at the age of 13yrs he is overwhelmed at being accepted for the senior band in October this year.

Your award to Sydney has helped him gain so many of his Goals this year and he looks forward to carrying on his lessons with Dan , and playing for the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland concert in April 2026.