Braveheart to go into the valleys to teach the bagpipes

And now bagpipe maestro Bobby Pinkman is taking on a new challenge – persuading the Welsh to take up Scotland’s national instrument.

The 49-year-old musician is about to leave his Midlothian home and set up a piping school in west Wales.

The former member of the popular Celtic rock group the Tartan Amoebas – who is leaving Scotland to be closer to his Welsh partner and their two children – said he is convinced the people of Wales will take to the bagpipes.

Many of Mr Pinkman’s Scottish students played in the huge pipe band which took to the Murrayfield pitch before this year’s Calcutta Cup clash.

The band’s rousing performance helped raise the ire of England rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward, who complained about his players having to stand through the grand pre-match entertainment.

Now Mr Pinkman, who is moving from Gorebridge to Newcastle Emlyn, in Carmarthenshire, is hoping to attract a whole new set of students. And he insisted today that he had no fears about a lack of interest in the bagpipes in Wales.

“The pipes are a worldwide pheno-menon now and everyone wants to learn to play,” he said.

“It is no longer just confined to Scotland or Canada, but stretches around the globe. The Welsh actually have their own tradition of piping, though it is almost extinct now. A few hundred years ago many of the Welsh lived in lowland Scotland and they had their own pipes.

“There are maybe only two or three people left who have examples of these pipes, however, but I’m sure people in Wales will be keen to learn the modern style.”

The piper, who has been playing since he was a little more than about five years old, previously played for the Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade band, as well as spending five years teaching the instrument at George Watson’s College.

He has also had considerable success as a solo piper and has played performed at rugby internationals, football matches and for the Scottish Claymores American football team. Seeing so many of his students perform at Murrayfield last month, however, gave him equal pleasure.

“A lot of them took part in that, and it was a good experience for them to play in front of so many people and with so many other pipers,” he said. “The English weren’t happy about it, but I suppose that was half the fun.”

Mr Pinkman currently teaches piping students at his home in Birkenside, Gorebridge, and has also begun teaching online, with through his website www.learn2pipe.com.

When he moves later this year, the bagpiper will be joining his partner Tresi – who returned home to Wales after growing homesick in Scotland – and the couple’s children Cerys, six, and Aron, five.

Initially, he aims to start home tutoring until he is able to save up enough cash to establish his own bagpipe school.

“It will be difficult finding the premises and the money to fund it initially, but I really think it could take off,” he said.

“It is something which more and more people are becoming interested in and the sound of the pipes is truly unique.

“The website venture will hopefully help with that as it has already proved quite popular.”

Jacob Jensen, a Dane who has been playing the pipes for more than 20 years and works at Bagpipes Galore on the Royal Mile, said he believed Mr Pinkman’s venture has a good chance of taking off success.

“Over the past 20 years, piping has become huge across Europe and there are schools in France, Germany and Denmark,” he said.

“It is also really popular in America and right now the world market is huge.

“The European schools are always full and I think its a great idea to open one in Wales as it always helps to spread the word.”