MWPBA - Latest news from the MWPBA

2025 St. Louis Scottish Games & Cultural Festival Order of Play

The St. Louis Scottish Games & Cultural Festival open up the MWPBA outdoor season, and are being held at Schroeder Park, 359 Old Meramec Station Rd., Manchester, MO on May 17, 2025 for all bands and amateur solos.

The solos for open players will take place on Friday evening, May 16, at the Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, MO. The open contest begins at 4:30 p.m. Entry is free to the Friday night event!

Here is the order-of-play for Friday's Open solos.

Here is the order-of-play for the Saturday soloists.

Here is the order-of-play for the bands.

If you live in the St. Louis area, we encourage you to come to the Schlafly Tap Room & Schroeder Park to support the pipe bands & soloists participating!

Swinton 2025 Results

2025 Swinton Overall Winner Andrew Carlisle & Pres. Jim Sim

Pictured: (from left): Overall Winner Andrew Carlisle & Jim Sim

Top Row: VP Scott McCawley, Teddy Krogh, Derek Midgley, Ken Liechti, Tom Cangelosi, Alastair Murray

Bottom Row: Zak Read, Andrew Lewis, Nick Hudson, Andrew Carlisle, Jack Williamson, George Gerules, Pres. Jim Sim

Photo: Claire Smith

The results from the 2025 Pipe Major Ian Swinton Open Professional Solo Piping Contest held on May 3 in Park Ridge, near Chicago, are as follows:

Piobaireachd:

Nick Hudson, (Houston, TX): Farewell to the Queen’s Ferry
Derek Midgley (Tinton Falls, NJ): Ronald MacDonald of Morar's Lament
Andrew Carlisle (Pittsburgh, PA): The Unjust Incarceration
Andrew Lewis (St. Paul, MN): Park Piobaireachd #2

March/Strathspey/Reel:

Andrew Carlisle: The Braes of Castle Grant/Loch Loskin/John Morrison of Assynt House
Jack Williamson (Topeka, KS): Leaving Lunga/Shepherd's Crook/Alick C. MacGregor
Andrew Lewis: David Ross/Tulloch Castle/The Cockerel in the Creel
Zak Read (Chicago, IL): South Hall/MacBeth’s Strathspey/The Sheepwife

Overall:

Andrew Carlisle
Nick Hudson
Andrew Lewis
Jack Williamson
Derek Midgley

Congratulations to all the competitors!

The Swinton May 3rd - Order of Play

The 2025 "P.M. Ian Swinton Open Piping Championship will be held Saturday, May 3rd at the Park Ridge Presbyterian Church at 1300 W. Crescent Ave, Park Ridge, IL 60068.

We have 12 top-flight soloists this year, so the contest will start earlier than previous years.

Doors open at 9:30 a.m., and our first competitor is up at 11am. Order of play

Admission is free. Come on out and enjoy the competition!

Results for the 2025 McHugh Solo Piping Contest

Thank you to all the contestants and spectators whom attended the 2025 Terry McHugh Memorial Solo Piping Contest! The clinic and recital by Nick Hudson will be posted on our YouTube Channel shortly, watch this space for details.

The winners:

2025 Terry McHugh Winners

(Left to Right): Vice Pres. Scott McCawley, David Dwyer, Thomas Gallo, Taylor Pulido, Kevin Neveau, Syd Lybert, Paul Jones, Pres. Jim Sim

Here are the results:

2025 Terry McHugh Memorial Solo Contest Results

2025 Education Series Seminar - Ben Elkins, Wed April 16

Our next event in the 2025 MWPBA Education Seminars will be on Wed, April 16 at 7:00pm Central Time.

Our featured presenter will be Ben Elkins, bass drummer with the Grade 1 City of Dunedin Pipe Band. Ben is a two-time North American Gold Medal Bass Drumming Champion at Winter Storm and was previously bass drummer for Grade 2 MacMillan of Maryland.

Ben's topic will be "Bass Drumming, Both Solo and Band".

No sign up is necessary. We will send out the Zoom Link a day or two before on the MWPBA email mailing list and the MWPBA Facebook group, and right here on mwpba.org. All you have to do is join the Zoom Call to attend the seminar.

There is no fee for this and it is open to all members and non-members alike. If you are not yet a member of the MWPBA, do please consider joining us as an individual member or supporting member, to support our mission of furthering the development of the art of piping and drumming throughout the midwest.

Put this on your calendars and we will see you there.

If you are new to the MWPBA Seminar Series, you can check out our back-issues here.