The Pipers’ & Pipe Band Society of Ontario is delighted to announce a new annual bursary for solo piping. The Lillian Livingstone Solo Amateur Piobaireachd Bursary will be awarded annually to the winner of the Championship Supreme award for senior amateur piobaireachd. The winner will receive $3000 to allow for travel and other expenses incurred in the pursuit of piobaireachd knowledge.
Said Lillian Livingstone, “I decided that our amateurs need some incentive to further support their study of this great music and so we’re creating this bursary”, she added, “The bursary is intended to be used for the study of piobaireachd under the tuition of a respected expert or experts, institution or facility devoted to the study and preservation of ceol mor and such individual or institution is to be approved by the Music Committee of the PPBSO”.
“This is a remarkably generous and outstanding gesture and one that will without doubt have a material impact on the piping career of any lucky recipient,” said Michael Grey, PPBSO president, adding, “On behalf of the PPBSO and its members I want to offer sincere and heartfelt thanks to Lillian Livingstone; a bursary of this kind is a first for us and speaks to many good things, including the Livingstone’s faith in – and support of – the Society”.
The first recipient of the Lillian Livingstone Solo Amateur Piobaireachd Bursary is Kayleigh Johnstone. She will receive this and her Championship Supreme recognition at the PPBSO’s Diamond Anniversary Ceilidh this coming Saturday, October 22, at the Royal Military College in Kingston.
Here’s to Lillian Livingstone! And Congratulations, Kayleigh!
Lillian Livingstone with husband, Bill (Photo from Belfast, Northern Ireland)