2026 Chieftain - Mr George Blair

George was born in Edinburgh in 1965 and moved to Peebles 10 years later when his father George Snr (Chieftain 2017) took up the position of District Manager with Eastern Scottish. George was educated at Kingsland Primary and Peebles High School and started work in Edinburgh as a Land Surveyor before moving into General Practice Surveying. While working full time, he was also able to study for and graduate with a BSc in Estates Management from Napier University. After a lengthy period of working as a surveyor in the public and private sector, he left the property industry to become the Rugby Development Officer for Peebles RFC for a period of 15 years, before returning to the property sector as Property Manager for The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

George started learning the tenor drum in his first year at Peebles High School but when the school were unable to get a full pipe band up and running, he joined Peebles Ex-Servicemen’s Pipe Band. This was one of the most successful periods in the band’s history which included them being promoted from Grade 4 to Grade 2 in consecutive years.

In this time, George played tenor and bass and eventually took over as the band’s Drum Major in 1989, having been taught by his predecessor Sandy Brown (Chieftain 1990). After this, George took on the role of Drum Major at Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia then Fife Constabulary Pipe Bands. He has been a Drum Major with The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Pipes & Drums for the last 10 years and has completed eight Edinburgh Tattoos (including one in Sydney), as well as leading the band abroad including Oslo, Prague, Dusseldorf and London. His name also appears on the Veitch’s of Peebles Trophy for Adult Drum Majors on a few occasions!

George met his wife Fiona in the Pipe Band and they married in 1993. They have two children, Scott and Kaitlyn, and one grandchild Harrison. They were Peebles Cornet and Lass in 1991 and are both heavily involved with Peebles March Riding & Beltane Queen Festival to this day.