The Bagpipe Society

Six Go Piping in Theale

Theale is a village near Reading. It is there that Bill Copland, a player and teacher of highland bagpipes, teaches a group of youngsters (ranging in age from about 10-18) who are learning the great highland pipes. Refreshingly, he is also ready to acknowledge that the GHB (Great Highland Bagpipe) is not the only bagpipe around, and he wants to make sure his students understand that fact too.

So it was that, on a dull Saturday in February, I took six ‘historic’ (reconstruction) bagpipes along with me to meet six young exponents of the GHB. Before COVID that would have been ideal – one pipe each – but regretfully I decided it wasn’t a good idea to pass pipes, and just possibly germs, around.

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