1 March 2024, Issue 1199
The call of the pipes The primal, wailing sound of the bagpipes stirs something within us all. And today The Weekend Sun features two stories about the great highland bagpipes, the national instrument of Scotland. The first, our cover story, previews a weekend of bagpipe music.
It’s the Central North Island Pipe Band Contest this weekend – for two days the thrum of the pipes and drums will be heard across Soper Reserve and Mount Maunganui. The contest is being hosted by the City of Tauranga Pipe Band, with members Jess
Willson, Doug Hendry, Jayne Wylie and Duncan Hendry (pictured), ready for action! The second is a rich story about a piper laid to rest, the ancestral calling of a Tauranga family and a very special set of bagpipes. The piper was the late Stu Willoughby – a
character by all accounts. An accountant, family man, fisherman, raconteur, cricketer, marathoner and – of course – a bagpiper. Read about the contest on page 10. And, the story of the late Stu Willoughby is on pages 16-17. Photo: Brydie Thompson.