Hawick Reivers Festival (RenFaire with Scocha and even a few kilts)

[terraedwin]

One of the reasons for joining X Marks, the abundance of great pics. Thanks for sharing.

[Kiltman]

Many thanks for the pics. It's something I've not seen before.

[Rusty]

Looks like it was a fun day thanks for sharing.

[Pour1Malt]

...
But he's off tae the stocks an' all.
Maybe I should get awa' hame before ah get masel arrestit by those halberdiers!

brill!

lueks like a guid day an' a'....

ta fur a' the bonny piccies!

guid oan ya Alex!

[brandycr]

Love the pictures one day Ill get myself over there maybe see it first hand.A girl can dream cant she lol!

[Zardoz]

It's interesting that the fair is in town. Over here ren fairs are generally out in the country somewhere, with new structures made to look like old English towns! Plus most of the folks that work them assume these bad fake English accents, I guess you don't have to deal with that!

[wgority]

Looks like you had a great day overall. I love spending time in the border country. Hawick, for those not familiar with the town, is pronounced to sound like "Hoik".

Northumbrian Small Pipes

No, they're not Northumbrian Smallpipes. Those are Border Pipes and they're being played by Matt Seattle who has been a friend of mine for a number of years. Matt is a noted authority on Border Pipes. He has composed numerous tunes for them, as well as writing and publishing a number of books of tunes for the instrument, including The Master Piper, The Border Bagpipe Book, Over The Hills And Far Away and many others. He re-discovered the William Dixon manuscript which was the basis for The Master Piper and had previously been thought lost sometime between the 1780s and 1820s. This manuscript as proven to be essentially the Rosetta Stone connecting modern pipers to the repertoire for the Border Pipes from the early 1700s. Matt lives not too far from Hawick. That particular set of pipes were made by Nigel Richards.

English Great Pipes - thanks Beloitpiper for identifying these pipes.

Nope, again they're misidentified. Those are similar to the single-droned student version of Lowland Pipes as made by Jon Swayne. I'm thinking that particular set may have been made by Dominic Allen.

These are English Greatpipes from my collection. Sorry for the bad photo, but I'll try to take a newer, better one soon.



The drone is well over 3 feet long for this set in the key of "D". The lower the key, the longer the drone. I've seen a set in "G" for which the drone is ridiculously long. Please note the rather substantial difference between the bell ends of both the drone and the chanter in the 2 photos.

[cessna152towser]

Thanks for the gen, wgority, I'd relied on what I've been told by others but you are obviously an authority on the subject and I'm happy to be corrected. Having no wish to perpetuate wrong information, I'll amend the captions on my website.

[beloitpiper]

Looks like you had a great day overall. I love spending time in the border country. Hawick, for those not familiar with the town, is pronounced to sound like "Hoik".



No, they're not Northumbrian Smallpipes. Those are Border Pipes and they're being played by Matt Seattle who has been a friend of mine for a number of years. Matt is a noted authority on Border Pipes. He has composed numerous tunes for them, as well as writing and publishing a number of books of tunes for the instrument, including The Master Piper, The Border Bagpipe Book, Over The Hills And Far Away and many others. He re-discovered the William Dixon manuscript which was the basis for The Master Piper and had previously been thought lost sometime between the 1780s and 1820s. This manuscript as proven to be essentially the Rosetta Stone connecting modern pipers to the repertoire for the Border Pipes from the early 1700s. Matt lives not too far from Hawick. That particular set of pipes were made by Nigel Richards.



Nope, again they're misidentified. Those are similar to the single-droned student version of Lowland Pipes as made by Jon Swayne. I'm thinking that particular set may have been made by Dominic Allen.

These are English Greatpipes from my collection. Sorry for the bad photo, but I'll try to take a newer, better one soon.



The drone is well over 3 feet long for this set in the key of "D". The lower the key, the longer the drone. I've seen a set in "G" for which the drone is ridiculously long. Please note the rather substantial difference between the bell ends of both the drone and the chanter in the 2 photos.

Ah yes, you're right. I thought the chanter looked a bit long for English pipes. Good eyes!

[AllenJ]

very cool! Quite the range of outfits from the downright silly to the spot on period kit. Good fun.