by Mike Ritchie GLASGOW’S parks are a natural treasure and have been a major part of life for the Dear Green Place’s citizens down the years. During the current pandemic they have been used as places to escape lockdown, to enjoy fresh air and a sense of freedom. There are more than 90 parks or green spaces in Glasgow – the smallest is Festival Park and the largest, and most dramatic, is Pollok Country Park on the southside of the city, home to a photogenic herd of Highland cattle and a range of wildlife. Nearby, Bellahouston Park has hosted two papal visits – Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in front of 300,000 in 1982 and Pope Benedict who did the same to 60,000 in 2013 – and several top music acts such as Eminem, The Cure, Paulo Nutini and Calvin Harris, as well as the World Pipe Band Championships, while Rouken Glen Park, a few miles away, has hosted sell-out Electric Glen winter light show.
Major Tony Crease, bandsman who hit the top of the charts with Amazing Grace – obituary
He toured the world with the Pipes & Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and later in life created a nature reserve in Yorkshire
Major Tony Crease with a gold disc for Amazing Grace
Credit: Piping Press
Major Tony Crease, who has died aged 74, led the Pipes & Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards as Pipe Major to the top of the hit parade with the band’s rendition of Amazing Grace.
In 1971, the Royal Scots Greys amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers and their bands came together to prepare for the Amalgamation Parade. In a project inspired by Crease, a recording took place for new regimental music. It included an arrangement by the Greys’ bandmaster, Stuart Fairbairn, of the hymn Amazing Grace.
World s biggest piping festival underway in Glasgow More than 50,000 people are expected to turn out for the world s biggest piping festival over the next week. Piping Live! Glasgow s International Piping Festival began on Monday with members of the Alloa Bowmar Pipe Band performing on the Royal Concert Hall steps. Band member Murray Drylie said: We re so happy to be making our Piping Live! debut but to be the first pipers to play a note is a true honour. We ve always been fans of the festival and, each year, we re blown away by the array of talent who travel from across the world to Glasgow.