PipingMcGhee

Finlay MacGhee started to learn to play the bagpipes at the age of eight. At the age of sixteen he joined the Queens Own Highlanders and came under the instruction of P/M Iain Morrison of Lewis.
In 1986 Finlay attended the Pipe Majors course at the Army School of Piping at Edinburgh Castle and obtained a pass with distinction as well as the Senior Teachers and Graduate Certificates from the Institute of Piping.
In 1988, he was appointed Pipe Major of 25/1 Highland (TA) Pipes and Drums based in Inverness and held this position until 1993, when he was appointed Pipe Major (Instructor) to the bands of the Royal Air Force of Oman.
Finlay returned to Inverness in 1999 where he taught piping for the Highland Council traditional music classes at Balnain House as well as running the Badenoch & Strathspey piping classes held in Newtonmore. He also found time to hold a teaching appointment with the Scottish Prison Service and teach students at his shop in Inverness.
World class piping runs through Finlays extended family, his brothers in law being Alistair Gillies and Niall Matheson.
Finlay is also the piping choreographer for the BBC's hit comedy / drama "Monarch of the Glen" originally starring Richard Briers, Susan Hampshire, Alistair Mackenzie and Dawn Steele. His piping could be heard and his knees seen dancing in several episodes of the popular series !! Look out also for his pipe box sporting the MacKay Clan Crest badge inside the lid.
In the spring of 2004 Finlay was appointed as Pipe Major and full time instructor of the Pipes and Drums of Royal Air Force Waddington near Lincoln. During his short tenure in the post he has already brought a fresh enthusiasm to the band and has worked to raise standards of music and sound.
Working within his wider brief for the Royal Air Force, Finlay participated with the Massed RAF Pipe Bands in the 2004 Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the 2005 “Edinburgh Military Tattoo Salute to Australia” in Sydney.