SCOTLAND’S “wheeled piper” has been left delighted after she was presented with a new set of bagpipes thanks to an anonymous benefactor.
Katie Robertson, 17, is originally from Carnoustie and goes by the name of "the wheeled piper” online.
She previously led 100 musicians through Glasgow last August as part of the Piping Live! Festival.
The teenager underwent spinal surgery in October 2021 and is unable to play a specific kind of bagpipes – known as bellow pipes – in part due to curves in her spine.
She was previously told she wouldn’t be able to play the bagpipes at all but, as her mum Jane says, “piping is her therapy, it’s her medicine”.
“It’s her focus and her life, not just a hobby. She was the first disabled piper to get into the National Youth Pipe Band and she did it after only a year,” Jane explains.
Despite going out busking just six weeks after her surgery, Katie says she didn’t think she would ever be able to afford the bagpipes she needed given how expensive they are.
“I didn’t think I was going to get any because it would have taken me years to save up for them,” she explains.
“But I’ve always been determined to prove people wrong, especially when I was told I wouldn’t be able to play the pipes. That’s always been a motivator for me.”
What the youngster didn’t know however, was that her mum, along with trad musicians Ross Ainslie and Fred Morrison, had come up with a plan to get her a new set of dream bagpipes.
A follower of Ainslie had been in touch after seeing him play with Katie and explained that they wanted to buy a new set of pipes for her.
The person who got in touch has so far remained anonymous.
@scotnational Incredible start to Piping Live! 2023 with ‘the Wheeled Piper’ Katie Robertson 👏👏
♬ original sound - The National
Jane explained: “Ross had messaged me to explain that these pipes were ready and asked if I could get her through to Glasgow without letting her know what it was about.
“Katie had been doing her piping lessons on Zoom so I told her she was going to the Piping Centre to get an in-person lesson. She wondered why she was travelling but I insisted that we should go.”
She was then presented with a set of custom-made Fred Morrison reel pipes as a gift from her mysterious benefactor.
Reel pipes are far easier for Katie to play from a physical point of view as there is only a bag at one side of the instrument.
“I saw Ross there and he eventually told me I wasn’t there to meet my tutor so I was very confused,” the teenager said.
“I went through and lying there on the table was a dream set of border pipes. I was speechless, which doesn’t happen with me, but I genuinely was. I think my mum must have thought there was something wrong with me because I was so quiet.”
Her mum added: “Her and Ross were in hysterics because she had gone so quiet. Whoever had donated them to her wanted them to play The Black Bear so we got a video sent to them.
“We have no idea who this person is. Ross doesn’t really know either, he’d only been in contact with them because this person had seen him playing alongside Katie.
“All we know is they like The Black Bear tune so we really just want to thank them for their unbelievable generosity.”
