Rona Lightfoot

Rona Lightfoot (; born 17 April 1936) is a Scottish bagpiper and singer.

Life Lightfoot was born on 17 April 1936 on South Uist to a family rich in pipers, and her first music lessons came from her parents, before she was taught by her uncle Angus Campbell.

Career Lightfoot had a successful career as solo piper, and credited as the first woman to win a major piping competition.

In 1972, she won third place in the jig competition at the Northern Meeting, but was not allowed to compete in the march competition due to the way she was dressed.

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.

Lightfoot is regarded as one of the best players never to have won a Gold Medal. She plays with her drones over her right shoulder, and her left hand on the bottom, the opposite arrangement to most players.

She later became the President of the Inverness Piping Society, the first (and only, to date) woman to do so. Since retiring from competitive piping, she has judged and taught, and in 2010 she won the Balvenie Medal for services to piping.