Scots Guards 3, Alex MacIver

Composer Bruce Thomson was on the phone today and told me that the Scots Guards are preparing a book three. They've asked Bruce for a few of his excellent tunes. Should be a good collection if 1 & 2 are anything to go by. Most pipers have a wide selection of tune books; most will have SG 1&2 too. The settings may be over embellished but one thing is sure - you can usually find the tune you are looking for within the covers of the Scots Guards Collection.

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I hear thunder and lightening played havoc with the contest at Strathmore at the weekend. The promoters had no option but to cancel things half way through the piobaireachd. Prizes were awarded to those who had played.

Difficult decision this for the organisers. They did get one thing right however - stopping the contest to make sure safety was not compromised

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Strathclyde Police band members who have registered a grievance with the force over the way their work conditions were changed without their knowledge have received replies. I can tell you that they are not happy with what they have been told. Everything is to be reviewed again in November and no guarantees re the band have been given. Most of the ten are taking the

procedure to stage two.

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Hector Russell pointed out to me that this year is the 20th

anniversary of the passing of our old

pipe major Alex MacIver (right). Alex was from the island of Lewis and a friend of P/M Donald Macleod's. He was a noted composer, producer of Gaelic plays and of course took the 214th BB pipe band to unheard of heights. Think today's Inveraray band with only himself as the adult in the ranks and you are getting close. The 214 regularly featured in Grade 2 prizelists when they played 'up'. The boys were all 17 or under, most a good bit.

The other remarkable thing about Alex was the numbers of drummers he produced who played at the very top. Think Joe Noble, Alex Connell, Rab Turner, Stirling McMurchie, Andy Hosie and you'll get the picture. I think it was because of the music he imparted. Alex had a natural feel for it and would spend hours explaining and cajoling until tunes had the required lift. He knew that if the drummers played this way they would take the pipers with them.

I remember the Friday night he approached me and Archie MacLean after band practice. I was 12 and Archie (now on the solo judging panel) 14. We were informed in Alex's best military style that we would be playing in the Worlds the following day at Dam Park, Ayr. 'Stirlingshire Militia', 'John Roy Stewart' and 'Dr MacPhail' was the set. No sleep that night and yes, the story has a happy ending. We won.

Such was Alex's reputation that John Maclean, Archie's father and a respected pipe band judge, had sent him along to be tutored up in the ranks of the 214. This pattern was repeated when Bob Hardie sent his son Jim to the band to be followed by Iain MacDonald, son of Angus, the then pipe major of the City of Glasgow Police.

The piping world is full of unsung heroes such as Alex MacIver. They work away for the love of the art, not taking a penny for their trouble. It's thanks to them that we are where we are in the modern day. No one had any money in Glasgow back in the late 50s and 60s so let's salute all those who did their bit - not just at the centre of the piping universe - and laid a solid foundation from which the piping and pipe bands have just kept on growing.