Rona Lightfoot

Rona Lightfoot is a Scottish piper and singer.

Life

She was born on 17 April 1936 on South Uist to a family rich in pipers.^[1] After learning initially from her mother and father, she was taught by her uncle Angus Campbell.^[1][2] Teaching was in Canntaireachd, a way of notating pibroch orally.^[3]

She then attended secondary school in Fort William, before going to Glasgow to train as a nurse.^[1] She met her husband Tony whilst in Glasgow, and they married in October 1960.^[2]

Career

Lightfoot had a successful career as solo piper, and is sometimes said to be the first woman to win a major piping competition.^[4]

In 1972, she won third place in the jig competition at the Northern Meeting, but was unable to compete in the march competition due to her dress.^[5]

She became the first woman to compete in the Bratach Gorm after applying pressure to the Scottish Piping Society of London, quoting the Sex Discrimination Act.^[1][3] She was only allowed to compete once.^[1][6]

Lightfoot is regarded as one of the best pipers to never have won a Gold Medal.^[7]

She later became the President of the Scottish Piping Society of London, the first woman to do so.^[2] Since retiring from competitive piping, she has judged and taught, and in 2010 she won the Balvenie Medal for services to piping.^[8][1]

Recordings

In 2004 she recorded Eadarainn, which involved both singing and piping.^[4]

References