Iain Gelston
Iain hails from South Shields at the mouth of the Tyne but started playing smallpipes whilst living in Yorkshire in the late 1980s, under the guidance of Adrian Schofield. He took up the Half-Long pipes on his return to Tyneside around 2013 and these have now become his main focus, having won all of the Northumberland trophies as well as the LBPS competitions north of the border. His repertoire and interest is centered around the older tunes of Northumberland and the borders, particular the 18th century variation sets that subsequently became the core of the early smallpipe repertoire.
Iain also plays bouzouki and mandola in the Tyneside band Lowp. He is a keen composer of tunes and has self-published two volumes of his own compositions, entitled ‘The New Shields Garland’.