Brian Lamond joined Inverkeithing Pipe Band at the age of 8 and was taught by Pipe Major John Innes. At around the age of 13, he started lessons with the late Capt. John MacLellan MBE Edinburgh, and studied with him for about seven years, mainly in Piobaireachd, although he was also a major influence on all aspects of Brian's playing.
 
He played with Polkemmet Colliery Pipe Band in the early eighties, Scotrail Vale of Atholl Pipe Band in the late eighties, Victoria Police Pipe Band from 1996 to 1998 including the period when they became the World Champions in 1998. He then went on to play with Peel Regional Police Pipe Band in Canada in 1999 and last year (2000) he began his present position as Pipe Major of Dysart and Dundonald Pipe Band.
 
Recordings: Brian played for the following Band CD's - ''From Celtic Roots'' Polkemmet, ''Salutation'' Vale of Atholl, ''Live in the Rockies'' and ''Masterblasters'' Victoria Police. He has also produced two CD's of his own - ''Another Day at the Office'' and ''Out to Play''. He has also played 2 recitals for the BBC, one when he was 14 and the other in May 1999.
 
Competitions: As a junior piper he won all the major contests at least once, including 3 Cowal gold medals. In Open contests he has played at Inverness and Oban once at the age of 18, and very little since.
 
Composing: In recent years he has taken to writing his own music, both piping and songs. Four were published in Murray Blair's ''Philharmonic'' collection. His current CD is a double CD called "Out to Play" and contains one piping CD and one CD of songs mostly written by himself.
 
Brian played in fine style for us on this occasion on a completely Shepherd set-up, ie. Shepherd drones and chanter, Shepherd zipper bag, Shepherd chanter reed and Shepherd M90 drone reeds.

Mick Murphy: comes from Ringaskiddy, County Cork, Southern Ireland, where he is Pipe Major of the Ringaskiddy Pipe Band. He was orginally taught by his father Barry Murphy but later took tuition from Stephen Power, late of the Scots Guards. Although not well known this side of the water, he is a formidable player and his piping skills are recognized all over Ireland, France and Spain. He has won many Ant Queachtas Medals (not sure I have spelt that right) for the playing of traditional Irish music on the bagpipes.
 
Other piping prizes include: 1996: 1st M.S.R, 1st 6/8 March, 1st H/pipe and jig at the Glenfiddich Championship in Northern Ireland. 1987: winner of the MacCallan Trophy in Brittany, France. He repeated this again in 1993. He was Leinster Champion in 1998, and he won the Munster Championship on no less than 6 occasions. He was once placed 3rd in the All Ireland Championships competing against such well known players as Terry Tully, Richard Parkes, Ronan Maguire, and other notable pipers.
 
He has given recitals in Barcelona, Madrid and many more places in Spain. He has also played in Paris and Lorient in France.
 
He was certainly on top of his form on this occasion, treating us to the most superb display of technique, control, and his own very musical and expressive style of playing. Many of his tunes were played in a very Irish style with many distinctive and elaborate runs and much use made of natural Cs and Fs and vibrato on various notes.

Apart from the excellent standard of playing, another aspect which I enjoyed a great deal was the warm contact both of these performers made with the audience. Each set of tunes was introduced with a little bit of banter which added that extra bit of interest to what we were about to hear, and which gave us a chance to appreciate each of them as characters as well as performers. I can remember recitals some years ago where the performers never said anything. Donald MacPhee stands out in my memory as the first one who really talked to the audience about what he was about to play. Since then it seems to have become much more the trend.