Obituary: Jimmie McGregor, piper and telecommunications manager

Jimmie McGregor was a much-loved piper, whose sunny personality and tireless work organising piping competitions saw him receive the Balvenie Medal, the highest award that can be bestowed on an individual for services to the bagpipe.

Sadly he did not live long enough to attend the official presentation of the medal, which is traditionally made in the autumn during the Glenfiddich Piping Championships at Blair Castle in Perthshire.

But shortly before he passed away aged 64 after a courageous two-year battle against illness, Jimmie was informed that he was to be given the award presented each year for “outstanding service” to piping.

Despite a lifetime dedicated to the art, it was typical of this kind and unassuming man that his reaction was one of surprise, and he asked what on earth he had done to deserve such an honour.

If his innate modesty meant that he did not know the answer to his own question, the world of piping most certainly did.

For many years Jimmie worked behind the scenes, clipboard in hand, bringing a jovial professionalism to piping events.

Competing pipers from all over the world recognised “Gentleman Jim” as the consummate steward at Highland gatherings. They also regarded him as their very good friend.

His encouraging remarks and his irrepressible wit helped calm competitors’ nerves as he gently shepherded them towards the judges’ bench to play at Blair Atholl, Perth, Lonach, Braemar and at his home town of Blairgowrie, where he was convener of piping.

For 30 years, he served on the committee of the Competition Pipers’ Association (CPA), the body which looks after the interests of pipers playing on the games’ circuit.

In the 1970s, he volunteered to produce a Guide to the Games, an annual publication that became essential reading for pipers planning to spend the summer competing in Scotland.

Single-handedly chasing up games’ organisers so that he could compile the guide that is sent out to a worldwide membership each year was a mammoth task, particularly in the days before e-mails and laptops.

Another of his achievements was advising Highland Games organisers to offer graded events for pipers – an innovation that allowed competitors to compete against musicians of their own ability.

Jimmie was born in 1947 on the Balmoral Estate in the same cottage as his father Pipe Major James McGregor, a champion piper who was in Royal Service and had served with the Gordon Highlanders during the war.

His father’s position as one of the Royal pipers at Balmoral meant that there was quite a turn-out at young Jimmie’s christening in Crathie Church on Royal Deeside.

King George VI, Queen Elizabeth – later to become the Queen Mother – Princess Elizabeth – the present Queen – and Princess Margaret were all in the congregation. The order of service became a treasured family possession.

Jimmie, his father and his mother Nellie later moved to Tulchan, Glenisla, when PM McGregor became head deerstalker and piper to the Earl of Airlie.

His formal education was at Webster’s Seminary, Kirriemuir, while his piping one was provided by his father, whose expressive and musical style of playing was much admired by pipers.

After leaving school, Jimmie joined British Telecom in 1967 and worked in Edinburgh for 14 years. His work then took him to Perth and Dundee. He retired as a senior manager with the company after 40 years service.

He enjoyed golfing, curling and supporting Hearts FC, but most of his spare time was devoted to the bagpipe.

He was a very good piper, but only occasionally took part in solo competitions. He found that he was more comfortable playing in more relaxed surroundings.

Rather than compete, he chose to use his formidable talent for administration to run piping contests. In this role he was constantly surrounded by good piping and he was particularly fond of well-played piobaireachd and competition marches – two forms of pipe music at which his father excelled.

For 20 years he was in the Atholl Highlanders, the Duke of Atholl’s private army, and, of course, he played in the pipe band. He was also piper to the Clan Gregor. At Glenalmond College, he was a kind and patient teacher of piping, helping his father when he ran the pipe band at the boarding school.

Two years ago, he was given life membership of the Eagle Pipers’ Society, a club that he had served as a committee man when he worked in Edinburgh. He was also honoured with life membership of the Braemar Royal Highland Society.

The CPA has commissioned a quaich in his name, and Jimmie was delighted to present it to the first winner.

At the Glenfiddich Championships last month, there was great sadness that the Balvenie Medal had to be presented posthumously.

But his hard work, his warm smile, his sense of fun and his encyclopaedic knowledge of piping were remembered in a moving speech made by his good friend Murray Henderson of Kirriemuir, one of today’s foremost solo pipers who had recently played The Earl of Seaforth’s Salute piobaireachd at his funeral.

In the Great Hall at Blair Castle, the piping fraternity heard that after his initial reaction of disbelief Jimmie was deeply “proud and honoured” when Murray Henderson and his wife Patricia Henderson, another famous piper, told him he would be receiving the award.

Then, to a standing ovation, Jimmie’s goddaughter Rebecca Jackson was presented with the medal on his behalf.

TOM PETERKIN