Around the 1950s, two men, both called Willie MacDonald, were famous Scottish bagpipers. One came from the Highlands city of Inverness while the other hailed from Benbecula, one of the Hebridean isles off Scotland’s wild western coast.
The Inverness McDonald also worked for the local water board. So in the piping world he was nicknamed Watery Willie to distinguish him from his island compatriot.
He was also captain of the shinty team in Inverness. And so that’s where we were last Friday afternoon, as champion piper Duncan MacGillivray led us on to the shinty pitch at Bught Park to hear a tune, Bught, originally composed by Watery Willie.
As a cold wind whipped our ears amid the mournful strains of Watery Willie’s bagpipe lament, masterfully played by a handlebar-moustachioed MacGillivray in full Highlands kilt regalia, I looke
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