Piping Live! will return from 12th - 20th August 2023. For all the most up to date info on the festival, please subscribe to our newsletter for email updates.

Inveraray and District Pipe Band

Inveraray and District Pipe Band

Inveraray and District Pipe Band


In 2003, renowned piper Stuart Liddell took up a new position teaching piping in schools in the Mid Argyll area. He had always had a vision that Inveraray might one day have a pipe band again, the previous Inveraray Pipe Band having disbanded in the late 1930s. In September 2003, the Inveraray Piping Project was born. With the assistance of local people, Tuesday nights at Inveraray Primary School became the time and venue for weekly piping tuition and practices and the small group began to grow.

In 2005, built upon these foundations, Inveraray and District Pipe Band (“IDPB”) was formed when it registered with the RSPBA. It competed in its first competition in the Novice Juvenile grade at Cowal Games in August 2005, with borrowed drums and its young members clad in uniforms of various colours.
The next few years, kick-started by National Lottery funding and much local support, saw the band rise through the RSPBA Grades with unprecedented momentum, winning the Worlds Championships in Novice Juvenile and Juvenile grades. Following the considerable success of the band in the Juvenile grade, a decision was reached that the band would thereafter compete in the adult grades to enable the older members to remain. The RSPBA took the unusual step of grading the band from Juvenile directly into Grade 2 owing to its success.
The band’s success in Grade 2 in 2009 (winning all 5 Major Championships) meant that it was immediately promoted to Grade 1 for the 2010 season. Both the pipe and drum corps had added to their ranks for the 2009 season and similarly were able to do so for 2010. In its first Grade 1 season, the band placed 5th at the Cowal Championship. Meantime, the growing demand for the band’s music and playing style meant opportunities for travel to festivals such as Brittany and Spain, and concert appearances such as Celtic Connections for the first time.
The current incarnation of IDPB is less parochial – in fact, truly international – with members from several continents. The membership features highly decorated individual performers, graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, an abundance of capable composers and arrangers and several performers with a wider musical pedigree than purely piping or drumming.
From 2011 up until 2022 (with no competitions in 2020/2021 due to the pandemic) the band were very consistent and have been placed in the top 6 in every Major Championship during these years. They won their first Major, the European, at Forres in 2014 and were 2nd in the Worlds that year. In 2016 they won the Scottish and British but were again just beaten into 2nd place at the Worlds. However, in 2017 they reached the pinnacle when they won the Worlds and became Champion of Champions in the same year. The band went on to win the Worlds for a second time in 2019. So far this year the band has done well at the Majors taking second place at the UK Championships in Lurgan and winning the European Championships in Aberdeen.


Donate!

We hope that you can consider making a donation to help keep Piping Live! coming back bigger and better!

Newsletter

Get all the news straight to your inbox by joining our mailing list!

Get Online Festival Pass

Ticket FAQs

Buy all your tickets in a single checkout. Get E-Tickets or use our ticket app. General Sale Friday 19th May at 10am!

Newsletter

Get all the news straight to your inbox by joining our mailing list!

Designed & built by Mucky Puddle