Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Ah, you have to be born to it to really appreciate it. That's why the pipes were used to scare the living daylights out of the enemy.
Eric
Eric
Sporran licence
- Thread starter BorderReiver
- Start date
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Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
I like the pipes but I enjoy the Northumbrian pipes most of all, there's a guy who usually plays on a bridge in Durham but he can sometimes be seen in the smaller town centres of County Durham and he always has an appreciative audience no matter where he goes.
Kev
Kev
Yeah, small pipes are much more pleasant than war pipes! I'm not at all convinced that the instrument we now know as the Highland bagpipes would ever have been used for anything other than war. There are all sorts of small pipes, including some little-known variants of the Highland pipes, that people would have used to make music for pleasure.
The pipes can be wonderful. It's a real shame that most people never ecounter them played properly.
The pipes can be wonderful. It's a real shame that most people never ecounter them played properly.
I can remember the sound of a lone piper piping as the sun crested the horizon, the sentries coming in being asked the question "Anyhing to report"
The reply "Officers sir, thousands of them" with a grin.
It was Sandhurst attacking, we would of been attacked 24hrs earlier if they could of found their way to us. SAWS kit meant that they could keep track.
The lone piper had really done his job well, we were well and truly raring to go when they got to us, it didn't bode well for the commanders of the future at all.
That was probably the best piper I have ever heard, hence it stays with me, he was a Gurkha.
As dawn faded into daylight their was a scene of unrivalled bleeping. "Ill conceived, poorly thought through and pathetically executed" was my statement at the debriefing as commander of the enemy, I added "Nice touch with the piper, it really got my boys going", just to add insult to injury.
However it does indeed detract from the fact of gentlemen hailling from north of the border having dead, nice little endangered furry creatures, strapped to thier groin to protect their valuables and requiring licenses for said demised beasties. Somewhat of a difference from a dog licence.
How are they going to enforce it??
Will they have "Sporran Wardens"?
What will "Big Gordy" have to say about it, lets face it he is a Scot?
Was it Gordon Browns idea?
Was it an April Fool gone wrong? (We already know that Gordon Brown is).
The reply "Officers sir, thousands of them" with a grin.
It was Sandhurst attacking, we would of been attacked 24hrs earlier if they could of found their way to us. SAWS kit meant that they could keep track.
The lone piper had really done his job well, we were well and truly raring to go when they got to us, it didn't bode well for the commanders of the future at all.
That was probably the best piper I have ever heard, hence it stays with me, he was a Gurkha.
As dawn faded into daylight their was a scene of unrivalled bleeping. "Ill conceived, poorly thought through and pathetically executed" was my statement at the debriefing as commander of the enemy, I added "Nice touch with the piper, it really got my boys going", just to add insult to injury.
However it does indeed detract from the fact of gentlemen hailling from north of the border having dead, nice little endangered furry creatures, strapped to thier groin to protect their valuables and requiring licenses for said demised beasties. Somewhat of a difference from a dog licence.
How are they going to enforce it??
Will they have "Sporran Wardens"?
What will "Big Gordy" have to say about it, lets face it he is a Scot?
Was it Gordon Browns idea?
Was it an April Fool gone wrong? (We already know that Gordon Brown is).
This is a large generalisation, but the majority of the Scottish people that I know and have met are decent reliable, honest and practical people. They call a spade a spade, so I am quite surprised that nobody has said this yet.
Licensing of sporrans should not be an individuals problem, it should be the importers or retailers issue, they should have to be able to prove that said item is actually legal and carries the correct documentation before they sell it.
After all when was the last time you went into Ikea and bought your gorilla hand ashtray or elephants foot umbrella stand. You do not go into your local Sainsbury's and buy thier latest white rhino sausages with herbs or go down to your local restaraunt for char grilled great white shark.
Even if you could get them from a shop it would be illegal to sell let alone purchase, at the end the buck stops with the retailer as most of the punters are not going to know what is legal and what is not.
Licensing of sporrans should not be an individuals problem, it should be the importers or retailers issue, they should have to be able to prove that said item is actually legal and carries the correct documentation before they sell it.
After all when was the last time you went into Ikea and bought your gorilla hand ashtray or elephants foot umbrella stand. You do not go into your local Sainsbury's and buy thier latest white rhino sausages with herbs or go down to your local restaraunt for char grilled great white shark.
Even if you could get them from a shop it would be illegal to sell let alone purchase, at the end the buck stops with the retailer as most of the punters are not going to know what is legal and what is not.
To be honest, I strongly suspect that that's what this law actually means. The entire story just reeks of dodgy reporting.
But then again, I am not a lawyer, I haven't read the law, and it wouldn't be the first time they've done something mind-bogglingly stupid...
But then again, I am not a lawyer, I haven't read the law, and it wouldn't be the first time they've done something mind-bogglingly stupid...
My Finance Director at work has a brother in the legal business preparing a case against this very point. Aparently Brussels are genuinely trying to force the law to requier AN INDIVIDUAL to be licensed to possess a sealskin sporran - there will be no grandfather clause - it will be illegal to own a fur sporran without a license from Jan !st 2008 if the law is passed - this is for real guys.
Im not sure of the extent of the prohibition if it only applies to seal skin or sporrans or all animal products or what.
Ill try to get some hard info and Ill post it when I do
Cheers
Nick
Further research found this on Wikipedia :-
Legislation was passed by the Scottish Executive on 15th February 2007 which made it a legal requirement to have a licence to possess live or dead specimens / derivatives of certain wild animals. This had nothing to do directly with the making and selling of sporrans but the press turned it into something that did directly. The only animals that this legislation referred to were animal listed on AnnexIV(a) of the Habitats Directive. The list runs to nearly 200 different animals only THREE of which POSSIBLY are used for the making of sporrans. The list includes such animals as Canis lupus (Arctic Wolf; Gray Wolf; Grey Wolf; Mexican Wolf; Plains Wolf; Timber Wolf; Tundra Wolf), Sicista subtilis (Southern Birch Mouse), Lacerta dugesi (Duge's Lizard) and Lacerta horvathi (Horvath's Rock Lizard) to name but four. As you can see these are not exactly the type of animal skin that would be used. The only possible link with sporrans was that of Otter and wildcat which I have yet to see a sporran maker in Scotland using.
A quote received fro the Scottish Executive was:
"New legislation, introduced on the 15th February 2007, has made it a legal requirement to have a licence to possess live or dead specimens / derivatives of any wild animal listed on AnnexIV(a) of the Habitats Directive, such as Eurasian Otter, Wildcat or Bat, NOT as was erroneously reported in the newspapers to Eurasian Badger, Common Seal, Grey Seal, Deer, Hedgehogs and Moles. The law in relation to these species has not changed at all."
That makes a bit more sense really
Cheers
Nick
Legislation was passed by the Scottish Executive on 15th February 2007 which made it a legal requirement to have a licence to possess live or dead specimens / derivatives of certain wild animals. This had nothing to do directly with the making and selling of sporrans but the press turned it into something that did directly. The only animals that this legislation referred to were animal listed on AnnexIV(a) of the Habitats Directive. The list runs to nearly 200 different animals only THREE of which POSSIBLY are used for the making of sporrans. The list includes such animals as Canis lupus (Arctic Wolf; Gray Wolf; Grey Wolf; Mexican Wolf; Plains Wolf; Timber Wolf; Tundra Wolf), Sicista subtilis (Southern Birch Mouse), Lacerta dugesi (Duge's Lizard) and Lacerta horvathi (Horvath's Rock Lizard) to name but four. As you can see these are not exactly the type of animal skin that would be used. The only possible link with sporrans was that of Otter and wildcat which I have yet to see a sporran maker in Scotland using.
A quote received fro the Scottish Executive was:
"New legislation, introduced on the 15th February 2007, has made it a legal requirement to have a licence to possess live or dead specimens / derivatives of any wild animal listed on AnnexIV(a) of the Habitats Directive, such as Eurasian Otter, Wildcat or Bat, NOT as was erroneously reported in the newspapers to Eurasian Badger, Common Seal, Grey Seal, Deer, Hedgehogs and Moles. The law in relation to these species has not changed at all."
That makes a bit more sense really
Cheers
Nick
