For the first time in 10 years a Scottish pipe band has won the World Pipe Band Championships.  As Shotts & Dykehead start a new chapter in their history, we take a look at Pipe Major Ryan Canning’s remarkable record that led to the band’s victory.

• Ryan is only the 7th leader of the prize-winning, Shotts & Dykehead, in the last 75 years.
• The result marks the band’s 16th World Championship victory.
• Ryan began piping at the age of 14, taught by Pipe Major Vernon Hetherington.
• Originally from Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Ryan has lived in Glasgow since 2003.
• Ryan is an accomplished solo competitor, having won prizes at several A Grade and Open competitions such as the Argyllshire Gathering and the Scottish Piping Society of London.
• Ryan was a member of the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band for over 16 years and won over 40 major championship titles with the band, including six World Pipe Band Championships titles (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2012).
• During his time at Field Marshall, Ryan was a major face of the band’s musical development and established himself as a reputable composer which led to the publication of his first collection of music, The Full Monty, in 2004.
• At the end of 2012, Ryan accepted the position as Pipe Major of the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band.
• On winning the World’s – this is the first time a pipe major has won the World’s without the band previously winning one of the major titles in the season build-up to the Worlds. The band was placed in the top three for previous majors in 2015.
• Shots & Dykehead’s win – marks the first time in ten years that the trophy has been lifted by a Scottish band, since the band previously won in 2005.
• Ryan runs Canning Reedmakers, where he manufactures and sells his own highly regarded brand of synthetic drone reeds.
• Ryan’s long-awaited second collection of bagpipe music – ‘The Blockbuster’ – has recently been launched. The book contains 49 new compositions and arrangements and 19 accompanying harmony scores, many of which have been played and recorded by the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band.