Gillian Blaney is a recent graduate of the Child and Youth Care program at Nova Scotia Community College. At the age of seven, Gillian started playing bagpipes at the Halifax Citadel School of Music and she has been taking lessons from Bruce Gandy since she was eight. Most recently, Gillian competed with the Dartmouth and District Pipe Band where they placed 2nd at the World Pipe Band Championships in 3A. Some of Gillian’s solo piping highlights for the 2024 season include, winning the MSR at The Metro Cup, placing 1st in all four events for the February online CLASP contest, placing 1st in the MSR and 4th in the Piobaireachd in the CLASP Champions of Champions Competition, winning the Piobaireachd at the USPF, and winning the Grade One Allan B. Beaton Memorial Trophy at the Antigonish Highland Games. When Gillian is not competing she enjoys teaching piping, and curling at the Lakeshore Curling Club in Lower Sackville. She is honoured to be invited to the 2024 George Sheriff.
Ben Elliot is from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. He started playing at the age of 8 and eventually started competing in solo competitions with the encouragement of his local pipe band, the White Pine Pipes and Drums from Midland, Michigan. Over the years, Ben received instruction from various instructors and currently as of 2022 has been taking lessons from Bob Worrall. This past season Ben won Piper of the Day at the Alma Highland Games and was first in the Grade 1 Light Music Champion Supreme Standings and tied for the Overall Grade 1 Champion Supreme Aggregate.
Ben began his competitive pipe band career in 2015 with the Great Lakes Pipe Band from Cleveland, OH. In the 2022 season he joined the 78th Fraser Highlanders, winning two North American Pipe Band Championships. Last season he competed with the Ulster Scottish Pipe Band from Philadelphia, PA gaining a North American Grade 2 Championship as well as a 6th place in the Grade 2 World Pipe Band Championships.
Outside of bagpipes, Ben works as a software engineer and enjoys spending time with his wife Carolann.
Colin Forrest, 16, is from Mission, British Columbia. Alan Bevan is currently his piping instructor. Colin placed third in the 2023 Intermediate MSR at the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban, won the 2023 Nicol-Brown Invitational, and won the 2024 Amateur Piobaireachd in Kansas City Winter Storm. His future goal is to win the gold medals at Oban and Inverness. Colin plays with the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band.
Liam Forrest is 18 years old and from Mission BC, Canada. He began playing pipes at age 8 with lessons from Glen Robertson, but now he gets lessons from Andrew Lee and Alan Bevan. Last season he joined the SFU pipe band, became a finalist for the McGregor Piobaireachd contest in Oban, and won the aggregate in BC's grade one class. He has has just started university studying for a degree in physics.
Malachi Johannsen is a 17-year-old, homeschooled senior from Modesto, California. He has been piping since he was 7 years old; beginning his instruction under Pipe Major Gary Speed and then with Pipe Major Elizabeth Tubbs of the City of Sacramento Pipe Band. He is a current student of Callum Beaumont and an active member of the Silicon Valley Grade 3 Pipe Band in Saratoga, California.
Malachi enjoyed a successful solo year in Grade 1. He placed fourth in Piobaireachd at Winter Storm in Kansas City, MO. Malachi won aggregate piper of Grade 1 at the annual Redding Bagpipe Competition in Redding, CA, securing an invitation to the Sandy Jones Memorial Amateur Championship Invitational in Orlando, FL. He was accepted as a participant for the MacGregor Memorial and Argyllshire Gathering this summer in Oban, Scotland. In addition, he played the U18 Piobaireachd and U18 MSR competitions at the Northern Meeting in Inverness, placing third in his Piobaireachd.
When he is not piping, Malachi enjoys playing a variety of other instruments. Upon graduation this year, Malachi hopes to attend flight school to become a pilot. He would like to thank his parents and family, members of the St. Florian Pipers Society, and members of the Silicon Valley Pipe Band for their continued support in his piping journey.
Thomas McCollum is a 19 year old piper who was raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He started piping when he was 8. Over the years he has developed his piping ability under the tutelage of Andrew Duncan, Craig Monroe and other world class pipers. He has competed successfully throughout North America and Scotland. Thomas played with the Alma College Pipe Band through High school which included a trip to the British Pipe Band Championship in 2022. He more recently competed solo at the Balmoral Championship in 2023 and has invites to attend the Nicol-Brown and Sun Belt competitions. Tom currently plays with the Grade 2 Great Lakes Pipe Band based in Cleveland, Ohio. Tom is a sophomore at Michigan State University and is pursuing a degree in chemical engineering. In his spare time Tom is a member of the 2023 MSU National Champion dodgeball squad. He plans to spend next summer in Scotland playing with the Uddingston Pipe Band and competing in the solo circuit.
Henry Paluch is currently a third-year student at the University of Toronto studying philosophy. He started playing pipes at the age of ten, later becoming the Pipe Major of St. Andrew’s College Pipe Band while in high school. Henry has competed in PPBSO for the past nine years, receiving tutelage from Jim McGillivray and Matt MacIsaac. This past summer, Henry placed second in the 2024 PPBSO Champion Supreme standings for Grade 1 Light Music and first for Senior Amateur Piobaireachd. Since its inception in 2019, Henry has been a member of the St. Andrew’s College Association Pipe Band. Henry also enjoys composing, and works for the sheet music website, pipetunes.ca, as a tune recorder.
Magnus Stone hails from Natick, Massachusetts, and is 16 years old. He took up the pipes at the age of 11 and began ongoing online lessons in 2020, studying under notable Scottish players such as Glenn Brown, Margaret Dunn, and Callum Beaumont. Magnus has had a successful second season in Grade 1, taking 1st place in over 25 events this year. His dedication to the craft is evident not only in his competitive success but also in his creative pursuits; he enjoys composing and creating modern music with a variety of traditional instruments. After a year of hard work, Magnus hopes to end the season with strong performances throughout the amateur invitationals and looks forward to piping success in 2025.
Adam Tingskou is originally from Winnipeg, MB. Adam Tingskou started learning pipes in the Lord Selkirk Robert Fraser Memorial Pipe Band under Robert Fraser and later received solo instruction from Wes Sheppard most recently Micheal Grey. He has been a member of the St. Andrew's Society of Winnipeg Pipe Band, the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada Pipes & Drums, the Fredericton Society of St. Andrews Pipe Band, and the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band since 2016. Notable highlights from the 2024 season include Amateur Piper of the Day at: the Northumberland Highland Games, Kingsville Highland Games, and the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, ON. Adam has been employed as a piper in the Canadian Armed Forces since 2014 and has currently been appointed Pipe Major of the 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Pipes & Drums located in Petawawa, ON.
Mic Trenor started piping in 1979 under the late Bob Ryan through the local Irish club. He entered the competition ranks under the guidance of the late Noel Slagle and The Captain, Ken Eller. Rising through the ranks to grade 1 in the 1980’s Mic retired in 1991. He spent the next 25 years teaching local pipers and giving back to the piping community in Ohio. Through the encouragement of his wife, Katrisha, Mic went back on the boards in 2018. Continuing his lessons with Ken he would see great success. He was piper of the day in Ohio Valley, Rose and Shamrock, Cincinnati Indoor in addition to taking the MSR at Fair Hill, Senior Amateur Piobaireachd in Kincardine, Ont. with the PPBSO and piper of the day at Grandfather Mountain. Mic plays with The Great Lakes Pipe Band, continues to teach, volunteer at Highland Games, and contribute to his piping community. He is a carpenter by trade and lives in Columbus Ohio with his wife Katrisha and their son Ethan.