During the past few weeks a great deal has been written on the pages of the “Piping Press” (an internet blog maintained by Robert Wallace) in tandem with social media and now in the Daily Mail about a dispute between Mr Barry Donaldson and the College of Piping. These writings would appear to have been distorted in order to suit the agenda and the sharp axes of the authors and so I am taking the opportunity to place before whomever might be interested the actual truth of the matter. It is not my choice or doing that this has been splashed all over piping, social, and national news media - I find all of it extremely distasteful but I also make absolutely no apology for doing so; I am not going to sit back and see my character being publicly assassinated any longer.
Having never at any point whatsoever had any verbal or written contact with Barry Donaldson about the matter, I invited him to meet with me in good faith so that I could explain to him the reasons at the time for his unsuitability as a representative of the College of Piping at a piping school in Germany. He has frequently based as a cornerstone of his complaints that he has never been told of these, yet he has never ever asked me. Mr Donaldson, despite arranging the day, time, and venue for the meeting, did not turn up. I have now informed him, in writing, of these reasons, although he now says quite incredibly that he does "not seek to know anything as to your views on how the College considers my suitability to instruct". Mr Donaldson therefore is quite free to divulge these reasons to whomever he wants, or whomever might be remotely interested in them.
The following is a summary of events regarding the matter:
- Two e mails were written by me on behalf of the College of Piping in my capacity as Director of Piping in August of 2017. They both concerned Barry Donaldson’s suitability to teach at a College of Piping school in Germany which took place in November of 2017. According to Barry Donaldson, the contentious part of one private e mail which I had sent to Mr Ronnie Bromhead (who administered the school on behalf of the College), was that he was “one of the very, very few that unfortunately is not acceptable to the College”. The second private e mail, to Frank Holle in Germany, the similarly factious part (according to Barry Donaldson) was “unfortunately the College has had to withdraw from Loheide because the organiser hired instructors some of which we did not think were good enough to be endorsed by the College”. Both of these men betrayed trust as the recipients by passing on the contents of these private e mails. Barry Donaldson has described the wording in them as “distasteful”, “disgraceful”, and “offensive”, and that they represent a “personal attack on my character…..”. I simply leave it to others as to whether they find his comments to be fair or even reasonable and as to whether or not they agree with them. But I do ask this; just how much of a crime is it for the Director of Piping of the College of Piping to voice a private opinion to one person that someone is not good enough to represent it, as it has every right to do, and following on from that, why do Barry Donaldson and Robert Wallace think it is so important that it is worth writing screeds of hysterical content on the matter and then distributing as much about it as they possibly can?
- Barry Donaldson was not prevented from teaching at the school by the College of Piping, nor was he ever hired by the College of Piping to teach at the same school in the first place. He is not, and was not, an employee of the College. The College simply withdrew its endorsement of the school when it became apparent that it had lost control and had no longer any say over who could or could not teach under its banner. The College wished the school well in its future endeavours, and continues to wish it well.
- At no point up until five days ago has Barry Donaldson made any attempt to communicate with me, either by telephone or by e mail, or in person, in order to voice whatever concerns he might have had. That would have been the proper thing to do at the time, but it apparently did not suit his agenda which would not have been served by simply contacting me. He knew that had he done so, he would have been unable to take his campaign to the Chairman of the College of Piping and to the Solo Piping Judges Association, the latter of which has ruled independently that his complaints have nothing whatsoever to do with judging, and so have nothing to do with the SPJA. Mr Donaldson has refused to respect that decision, despite having been offered appeals and fresh reviews of his complaint. The SPJA now consider the matter closed. Even so, Barry Donaldson now says that he will “hold off on further action” …. “on the subject of how best these additional disgraceful issues are addressed”. His is a process which in my opinion is intended to cause me as much personal and professional harm as possible.
- His efforts have been fought on no fewer than five fronts - the Solo Piping Judges Association, the College of Piping, Robert Wallace’s “Piping Press”, Facebook (where Donaldson has extensively and at every opportunity shared material published on the subject), and a Scottish news agency that has published only his side of the story. A piece has also appeared in the Daily Mail. As time has progressed each has taken on a tone of increasing desperation. Only with the College of Piping, after weeks of negotiations, was he able to extract an apology. Even though Barry Donaldson accepted and agreed to the wording of this apology, he immediately maligned it by publishing remarks that it had “raised more questions than answers”. All of the other efforts of both Donaldson and Robert Wallace (who did not waste any time in joining in the proceedings on his blog) have fallen flat. Donaldson has opined that his reputation has been affected by the supposed public knowledge of the e mails, but the fact is that he has done his absolute best on his own to ensure that the information contained in the e mails has now been broadcast to the world, using Facebook, news agencies, the Daily Mail, spoken word, and Wallace’s blog as his platforms.
- It has been stated in the Daily Mail that this matter was responsible for my leaving the College of Piping. At the time when I wrote my resignation letter to College Chairman Colin MacNeill, I was not even aware that any matter between the College and Donaldson was ongoing. I resigned my position giving notice on October 31st, 2017, - not “a few days later” than November 16th as Donaldson stated, nor November 20th, as Wallace also incorrectly states. The reasons for my leaving had nothing to do with Barry Donaldson since the first I knew that there was a continuing action by him was when I was told of it by Colin MacNeill in Edinburgh in early December, a few days after I had finished my employment at the College at the end of November. The story which appears in the Scottish Daily Mail issue of 29/12/2017 stating that “Mr. Donaldson .… complained …. winning the resignation of Mr MacLellan as Director” is incorrect. My resignation letter proves all of this beyond any doubt and may be seen here at CoP Resignation .
- Did I make these two private e mails, written by me, available to a wider audience by means of forwarding them to people other than the recipients? I have done no such thing, and if indeed they became public to people in Germany and in the UK and the rest of the world as Mr Donaldson claims then very few people could have forwarded them.
Barry Donaldson and Robert Wallace appear to have other axes to grind. Make no mistake, this is not just about the College giving an honest opinion that someone was not suitable to represent it at a piping school. It is apparent that there is a whole other subject at work. Both of them disrespect the democratic process which saw me elected as Chairman of the SPJA by an overwhelming 16 to 1 vote at the Association’s AGM on the 12th of November. If they wish to undo the democratic wish of the members of SPJA, as they apparently are intent on doing, then they will have to do much better than what they have shown so far. They will find that I am an extremely tough nut to crack.
Robert Wallace put himself forward for the position of Chair of the Solo Piping Judges Association, but withdrew when he learned that I was the other candidate. He could have tried for the position instead of resigning and then choosing to snipe at the Association and the Committee from the side-lines on his blog at every contrived opportunity. The long, bitter, and bilious history which he has with the College of Piping, together with the clear vote last year of the SPJA to prevent teachers judging their pupils at the biggest piping competitions, would appear to be the real motives behind his behaviour during this whole appalling affair.
Never anywhere have I ever witnessed a more malicious and spiteful campaign carried out with the precise aim of causing someone as much personal and professional damage as possible. Reputations are hard - earned and throughout this whole sordid episode it is not mine which has suffered – it is both Barry Donaldson and Robert Wallace who have diminished their own standing in piping as a result of their behaviour. Pipers in general are not fools, and neither are they easily deceived. Unfortunately we will have to endure even more of this matter before it peters out to its tedious and tiresome end, because the two architects of all of this are completely unable to let it go and will never allow anyone the last word, no matter how conclusive.
Very soon I hope that this undignified and unbelievably petty episode will have finally reached its end.
Yours sincerely,
Copyright © 2018 by Colin R MacLellan. All rights reserved.
This statement or any portion thereof may not
be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the author.
This statement or any portion thereof may not
be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the author.