The Clan Donald Trust for the Gaelic Performing Arts, together with the Robert Burns Society of Charleston, are pleased to announce that at the 2025 Northern Meeting in Inverness, Scotland, Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Scotland has won his fourth Gold Clasp. The Clasp is reserved for winners of at least one of the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medals at either Inverness or Oban. Stuart’s winning tune was the Lament for Colin Roy MacKenzie.
The Trust and the Burns Society have sponsored the Gold Clasp competition in Inverness for the past eight-years. In addition to a large cash donation to fund the competition, we award the winner one of our now famous Clan Donald Targes as a trophy. The targe is used as first prizes in all our competitions around the world. It can be seen in the accompanying picture of Stuart.
At the Northing Meeting, Stuart also won the Premier Hornpipe and Jig competition and was placed third in the Former Winners’ MSR (March, Strathspey, and Reel). MSR refers to a common competition format that requires pipers to perform a set consisting of one march, one strathspey, and one reel in that specific order. This format serves as a standard test of a musician’s ability to play different tunes and time signatures, similar to a medley but with a more restricted structure. Stuart was also awarded the Northern Meeting Quaich as the overall champion.
In addition to the Clasp, Stuart is a former winner in 2010 and 2025 of the Donald MacDonald Quaich for Piobaireachd which is held at the Clan Donald Centre on the Isle of Skye. The competition honors the memory of Donald MacDonald, and is one the premier piobaireachd competitions in the world.
Congratulations, Stuart.
The Robert Burns Society of Charleston Inc., a non-profit organization as 501(c)(3), supports and promotes Scottish-American history, Scottish heritage, culture and military tradition in the South Carolina Lowcountry through events and the development of excellence in Highland Bagpiping, Highland Dance, Scottish Fiddle, Scottish Harp (Clàrsach), the Scots Gaelic language, to include support of academic achievement of the Scottish-American diaspora through Grants/Scholarships.
