Hours of intricate work are needed to craft a set of bagpipes, finds Kate Lovell
BAGPIPES are as much a part of Scottish culture as whisky, the kilt and Nessie, but they’re actually an Ancient Egyptian import thought to have been introduced into Britain by the Romans. Regional variations emerged and it was one of these that, 40 years ago, caught bagpipe-maker Dave Shaw’s eye.
‘I see the process involved in making something and simply get a mania for it. That’s what happened with the bagpipes,’ admits the Co Durham-based craftsman. There was no childhood connection, either, save for a bagpipe-trilling farming neighbour of his father’s. ‘He would walk up his mile-long drive each evening, practising his bagpipes —even now, it’s an evocative sound.’
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