Pipe Tune in Memory of a Special Princess

Contest results from The Piping Centre in Glasgow include award winners from Northern Ireland, Canada and Scotland

A 25 year-old Territorial Army Ranger from Northern Ireland - Derek Boyce of Portadown, County Armagh was thrilled to win two of the top three awards in The Piping Centre's Pipe Tune in memory of a Special Princess composition contest.

He was also surprised: the three tunes he submitted were the first tunes he had ever composed.

"The competition started me composing tunes," he said. "every time I pick up the chanter, I'm trying different bits and pieces."

Scottish Power Pipe Band is including one of Derek Boyce's tunes in its performance at the World Pipe Band Championships in August.

The Piping Centre's World-wide search for an appropriate tune to commemorate the life and work of Princess Diana was itself "a unique and fitting tribute," said Paul Burrell, fundraising and events manager for the Diana, Princess of Whales, memorial Fund.

The Princess' former butler described the awards ceremony on 25 June as "a very special and unique event" and said he believed the tunes he heard would have pleased Princess Diana

The list of award winners is:
1 Derek Boyce (Northern Ireland)
2 Heather Wiens (Canada)
3 Derek Boyce
4 Calum Campbell (Scotland)
5 Bruce Gandy (Canada)

About 150 entries arrived at The Piping Centre from around the world, from well-known and novice pipe music composers. the Tunes were judged "blind", purely on their merits, by an international panel.

"the Quality of composition evident in the tunes submitted was very high," said Roddy MacLoed, director of piping for The Piping Centre, announcing the prize winners. "We are confident we'll be able to publish a collection of tunes that will have a strong appeal to pipers and other musicians at home and abroad." A CD is planned.

The contest's runner-up, Pipe Major heather Wiens of Winnipeg's all-women Heather Belle Pipe band said the shock of hearing about Diana's death and seeing the worldwide impact that had, spurred her to the composition of something she hoped would be worthy of Diana's honour.

"I also had in the back of my mind that my band was coming over to the worlds in August and I thought that it might be a good idea, knowing the great number of grade four bands in the competition, that it might be something distinctive for our band to play." Two of her 4/4 marches are in the heather Belle's repertoire for the Worlds this year. The band was founded in 1951 by John Service from Hamilton, Scotland, and has steadily raised its public profile, opening for Paul McCartney's concert in Winnipeg in May 1993 and performing Mull of Kintyre with the former Beatle.