OT: 28 December 1912 – Lachlan Bruce “Gesto As a Piper”

The Oban Times, 28 December, 1912

Gesto As a Piper

Achnahanaid, Braes, Portree, 18 December, 1912

Sir–I see that it is very difficult to make Mr. John Grant believe that Captain MacLeod, Gesto could play the pipes. Everyone knows that it was Gesto who taught Sandy Bruce, my uncle, to play the pipes, and Sandy Bruce was considered one of the best pipers in the Highlands in his time. It is said that he beat John Dubh MacCrimmon at Kyleakin.

My father used to tell us that it was Gesto who taught his brother Sandy Bruce, and that Gesto was a splendid piper himself. My father ought to know better then Mr. MacKenzie or the Rev. A. McGregor that Gesto was a piper.

I think Mr. Simon Fraser’s letter proved beyond doubt that Captain MacLeod was a splendid piper. Mr. John Grant said in one of his letters that the truth would come out at last. Now Mr. Simon Fraser told us the truth about Gesto as a piper.–I am, etc.,

Lachlan Bruce