Daniel Sweeney

Daniel started playing the bagpipes in his home town of Crieff, aged 11. Initially he started off in the local brass band with his brothers playing the cornet. Soon two of his brothers joined the local pipe band playing the drums and another brother left to play accordian. It was then that Daniel took an interest in the pipe band and started going along to chanter practice, and before long bought a chanter from a family friend. Daniel was taught at the local Strathearn Pipe Band with tuition from Adrian Cramb, now pipe major with Grade 1 Vale of Atholl pipe band and David Dobson who also played with the Vale of Atholl. Monday evenings were also spent gaining more tuition from Adrian in his mother and fathers kitchen. Within a couple of years Daniel was competing in local competitions, picking up a few medals on the way to his first competition win aged 14. Once Daniel started working, his pipes had to take a bit of a back seat due to lack of time, but his passion and skill was much in demand that he was soon making time to play at numerous weddings throughout the Crieff area. He joined the Perth and District pipe band competing in all the major championships and all the local competitions. Soon his piping took him to Thailand, Germany, Ireland, Wales, Russia and Vietnam as well as many trips to England where he plays every New Years eve at Holbeck Ghyll Hotel in the Lake District. 2016 was a busy year which took in France, playing at the Battle of the Somme celebrations, Turkey for a Graduation Ceremony at a British School just outside Istanbul, and then finally Germany to take part in the Berlin Tattoo. It was after this spell that the decision was made to make it a full time business, and left The Royal Mail after 5 and a half years.