Clan Donald Lands Trust (CDLT) is delighted to be the main sponsor of the highly respected Gold Clasp for Piobaireachd at the Northern Meeting Piping Competition, which has just taken place in Inverness. This is the first year that CDLT has sponsored the competition.

The Clasp to the Gold Medal is the most important of the competitions held at the Northern Meeting. The Gold Clasp competition is only open to previous winners of the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting or the Argyllshire Gathering. In addition to sponsoring the competition, the Clan Donald Lands Trust have agreed to increase the first prize money to £1000. The Trust also presents a unique trophy in the form of a CDLT targe – or shield – for the winner to keep.

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Gold Clasp is Callum Beaumont (4th from left in photo). Mr Beaumont was born in Bo’ness in central Scotland and started playing the practice chanter at the age of seven. At the age of 12, he joined the  Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band, and then played with Shotts & Dykehead, Simon Fraser University, Inveraray & District and Scottish Power. He won the World Pipe Band Championships twice with Simon Fraser University and once with Shotts & Dykehead.

As a solo piper, Mr Beaumont has won the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering in 2011 and the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting in 2013.  In 2012, he became the youngest ever winner of Clasp at the Northern Meeting, a feat he has repeated in 2015, 2018 and again in 2019. In 2017 he won the prestigious Donald MacDonald Cuach held annually at Armadale Castle, the home of Clan Donald Lands Trust.

Building on a long career in both solo and band environments, Mr Beaumont has come to the fore as one of the world’s most prominent and sought-after pipers.  The Clan Donald Lands Trust offers its sincere congratulations to Callum Beaumont on his impressive victory.